tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20659974509624234102024-02-20T15:06:15.811-05:00The Movie-O-MeterThere are great movies, good movies, average movies, halfway decent movies, and movies you'll never forget -- no matter how hard you try. I am here to try to help you navigate through them, to help you choose your movies so you can spend your money (and your time) wisely.
And yes, these reviews are being copyrighted as they are written.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.comBlogger64125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-34438121501913976222014-07-26T01:00:00.001-04:002014-07-26T01:00:41.214-04:00The Seven Year Ick<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Usually it's the traffic or the smog or the hipsters that'll get you in Los Angeles. Nope. The Things That Go Bump in the Dark, they're what'll get you.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbpgZFz46ALA1ouaE8kGk3Xva8_jKIALpL-41xzYtkZNkwPdfMdvgj95ba4tkYAdTV7l7LR8CYeKRpOFsOswU_m_1y7eFkNlQBzM9Vlz1mZNN6JQIHDw7IywMEuh2WGbK6vfntZHOt1GA/s1600/Absentia+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkbpgZFz46ALA1ouaE8kGk3Xva8_jKIALpL-41xzYtkZNkwPdfMdvgj95ba4tkYAdTV7l7LR8CYeKRpOFsOswU_m_1y7eFkNlQBzM9Vlz1mZNN6JQIHDw7IywMEuh2WGbK6vfntZHOt1GA/s1600/Absentia+2011.jpg" height="320" width="232" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>"Absentia" (2011)</b></span><br />
written and directed by Mike Flanagan<br />
starring Katie Parker, Courtney Bell, Dave Levine, Justin Morgan, and Morgan Peter Brown<br />
<br />
<b>How Is It?</b><br />
Low-key, atmospheric, moody, and well-made. It doesn't rush to get you anywhere, and though it can feel like it's moving a little slow here and there, it really isn't. The story is about pregnant Tricia (played by Courtney Bell) whose
husband has been missing for seven years. Her prodigal sister Callie
(played by Katie Parker) moves in with her for support, as the county is
finally ready to declare Daniel, the missing husband, deceased. It should come as no surprise that things go awry. Rather than spectacle the film focuses on the characters, no cats jumping out of cupboards or other cheap scares. "Absentia" is a slow burn, an eerily slow but steady burn.<br />
<br />
<b>The Players</b><br />
The acting is pretty solid all the way around. Parker and Bell have good chemistry playing the sisters, as do Levine and Gordon as the police detectives. Brown as husband Daniel, while not on-screen as much, gets to play the widest range and to great effect. There's not a lot to say on this end, really. Very human, engaging performances from all quarters.<br />
<br />
<b>Behind the Camera</b><br />
Mike Flanagan wrote and directed. It's a tight, clean script, nuanced and interesting, as is the direction. The cinematography and editing are sharp and keep you interested, focused, and engaged throughout. No frills, though. Flanagan kept the look and feel simple and did so to great effect. The visuals complement the story and the acting, a very adept movie package. The movie has a personal, intimate feel, coupled with an uneasiness, an uncertainty and sense of things being somehow off-kilter the whole while. Economically and effectively eerie and subtly unsettling, and that's good horror.<br />
<br />
<b>The Verdict</b><br />
It's a solid flick top to bottom and side to side. If you're in the market for gore and screaming and action and slashing, this one is not for you. "Absentia" is a smart movie, a very good movie indeed. Not only do I recommend it, I'm buying a copy for my personal collection.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-67305799885523455822014-05-11T23:28:00.000-04:002014-05-11T23:28:27.660-04:00You didn't see that coming, did you?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
"Oculus" and "The Quiet Ones" don't deliver quiet what's expected. That works in one but alas, doesn't in another.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>"Oculus" (2014)</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9u3bNL6sa5dh7_bVf2Lo9QWZmzTotxCZr6GbLuwasPzZFuGZxk5ovYyOHMfaSD8t4eSgodCxWTShy_cGxrKYpnenNrhffuhD2_rTnmxCZtk3F0Y_r8Dy8S-dZQ384U52hCExT615V2pj/s1600/Oculus+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhO9u3bNL6sa5dh7_bVf2Lo9QWZmzTotxCZr6GbLuwasPzZFuGZxk5ovYyOHMfaSD8t4eSgodCxWTShy_cGxrKYpnenNrhffuhD2_rTnmxCZtk3F0Y_r8Dy8S-dZQ384U52hCExT615V2pj/s1600/Oculus+2014.jpg" height="320" width="215" /></a></div>
You've seen this movie before... ish. It's the time-tested spooky story of kids with a terrible past going back to the scene of the crime to get to the truth and get even. Just this time the baddie is... well, it's a mirror. Karen Gillan stars in what looks like it should be a bog standard haunted house movie with cliches galore, and it is... and isn't. Yes, there are some key point in the film that avid horror movie fans see coming miles away, but it still works. "Oculus" is a pretty tight, well made, well performed, fairly well paced ghost story with a healthy dose of psychological horror in the mix. I was skeptical going into it and actually a bit surprised and pleased as the credits rolled. The movie doesn't reinvent anything in the genre. What's refreshing is it doesn't try to be something it isn't, and it tells its story very well. Hats off to all involved in the making of it. I quite liked it. It's well worth watching.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>"The Quiet Ones" (2014)</b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_I4r5XhrMc5vbo8U3xkg2V-8kpo76ycA_ZZ6TfbQySdRNI4cWdvP51i3B-q8qhvMuU7sfuI4GITv64jE96GnJv4ye9-1qkHo3EPrFmqelaYmhDDaLFrnjBH19GDWAbS4hNNwtjmiN7e6l/s1600/The+Quiet+Ones+2014.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_I4r5XhrMc5vbo8U3xkg2V-8kpo76ycA_ZZ6TfbQySdRNI4cWdvP51i3B-q8qhvMuU7sfuI4GITv64jE96GnJv4ye9-1qkHo3EPrFmqelaYmhDDaLFrnjBH19GDWAbS4hNNwtjmiN7e6l/s1600/The+Quiet+Ones+2014.jpg" height="320" width="207" /></a></div>
I am still rather stuck on exactly how to put how this film doesn't work, except to say that it seems in it efforts to lead viewers to wonder "What really happened?" it simply made itself rather muddy. All the hallmarks of paranormal investigation movies are there, all the stock characters, scares, character arcs, and twists. It was distinctly Hammer, yes. It was just rather flat, unfortunately. I expected more. Streamable, maybe rentable for the special features for hardcore Hammer/horror buffs.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-71561340047594862242014-04-13T07:51:00.000-04:002014-04-13T07:51:19.559-04:00Battlefield Moon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
The guy that directed Battlefield Earth directed this. I'm sure for some that's review enough of any movie.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceJb8Gvq6aByrkayzzE4alcr6b8TUM4634VgX9POxmP2VgW7DVeorxEGFaaZqxLoIkiGgdAuEZf-h1x4bhww6bJtzKvwbxaxSi-9NOm_6bCg8mpXuqq7J9AsdczBkIBu-WiRwZHYuwsmt/s1600/Stranded+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjceJb8Gvq6aByrkayzzE4alcr6b8TUM4634VgX9POxmP2VgW7DVeorxEGFaaZqxLoIkiGgdAuEZf-h1x4bhww6bJtzKvwbxaxSi-9NOm_6bCg8mpXuqq7J9AsdczBkIBu-WiRwZHYuwsmt/s1600/Stranded+2013.jpg" height="320" width="216" /></a></div>
<b>"Stranded" (2013)</b><br />
directed by Roger Christian<br />
written by Roger Christian and Christian Piers Bentley<br />
starring Christian Slater, Amy Matysio, Michael Therriault, and Brendan Fehr<br />
<br />
<b>How Is It?</b><br />
It's almost as if they kidnapped a Roger Corman sci fi movie from the early '80s but made it worse. No, really. It's derivative in every possible way, but what sets it apart from most of those films it attempted to parrot, it has no soul of its own. It's a hollow, drab, gray, uninteresting movie. (It's still not as bad as <a href="http://mcqwertymovieometer.blogspot.com/2011/03/we-start-at-bottom-and-work-our-way-up.html" target="_blank">this</a> one, though.)<br />
<br />
<b>The Players</b><br />
This is the depressing part: The ensemble of four good actors got stuck with a bad script and a director with a very checkered track record. Nobody was written a character to play. The movie is about four cardboard cutouts stuck in a crippled mining base on the moon. Slater plays the typical base commander. Therriault plays the typical engineer with a drinking problem. Therriault plays the typical level-headed, logical medical officer. Matysio gets the most to draw from out of the gang. She gets to play both the brave, capable first officer as well as the damsel in distress. It's just that the writing is so bad, so flat that all of their characters have only as much dimension as the descriptions of them you just read.<br />
<br />
<b>Behind The Camera</b><br />
Roger Christian is am industry recognized, award-winning set decorator and production designer. He directed the cult horror classic "The Sender" (1982) as well as the universally decried and derided "Battlefield Earth" (2000). So the sets in this movie looks good, as does the lighting. The moonbase exteriors and other miniatures work are quite good. For the just over $2 million the film was made for, it looks pretty good. <i>Looks</i>. The look of the movie is where all the money wound up. Not enough of it made it into script rewrites, which is as much of a shame as it is becoming more common in movies. The look of a movie is its frame, and the script is the picture, the colors, textures, brushstrokes, and theme. "Stranded" is a frame without anything inside.<br />
<br />
<b>The Verdict</b><br />
It would have been a different movie, could have been a different movie, a
good movie, if only the script wasn't so derivative, joyless, and boring and there was anything there to watch. Avoid.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-86585156782925495952014-02-14T22:17:00.000-05:002014-02-14T22:17:42.549-05:00Sometimes it's just best to quit while you're behind.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<br />Rutger Hauer in a 3D re-imagining of "Dracula" with a decent dose of T&A could work but for one thing: Dario Argento.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMiuWmuayhGjQcP0QM4YksjVAjnkZDC01HyZDpivRmLUjYprwttQ8COJWyl6UmGN8fXawCwcP55RGMm6l6OSnB-aPrUEzNwocW31XQEdLEFnnrWj7zfIlTsTrBINsI4bj694k4LTtE0dHf/s1600/Argento's+Dracula+2013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMiuWmuayhGjQcP0QM4YksjVAjnkZDC01HyZDpivRmLUjYprwttQ8COJWyl6UmGN8fXawCwcP55RGMm6l6OSnB-aPrUEzNwocW31XQEdLEFnnrWj7zfIlTsTrBINsI4bj694k4LTtE0dHf/s1600/Argento's+Dracula+2013.jpg" height="400" width="270" /></a></div>
<b>"Argento's Dracula 3-D" (2012)</b><br />
directed by Dario Argento<br />
written by Dario Argento, Enrique Cerezo, Franco Paolucci, and Antonio Tentori<br />
starring Thomas Kretschmann, Marta Gastini, Asia Argento, Unax Ugalde, Miriam Giovanelli, and Rutger Hauer<br />
<br />
<b>How Is It?</b><br />
It's about as sophomorically substandard as you have come to expect from Dario Argento, alas. Plodding, dull, cheap-looking, and frequently painful to watch. This is one of the worst films I have ever seen.<br />
<br />
<b>The Players</b><br />
It is so hard for me to write this, but it was disappointing all around. Kretschmann as Dracula came across bored, as if he was simply going through the motions. Asia Argento was dutifully in her dad's movie. Gastini and Ugalde were wooden, and Hauer... oh dear. They were all there, but none of them looked present. The rest of the cast, on the other hand, chewed the scenery like it was going out of style. So in many ways, this was a typical Argento joint. Alas.<br />
<br />
<b>Behind The Camera</b><br />
It was almost like watching a SyFy Original Motion Picture, just less fun and far less entertaining. A woeful script written by committee, nearly comically mediocre digital effects, low-end practical effects, sets and lighting that looked as if they barely tried at all, and a lack of apparent cohesive vision to the project are what hurt this film. In short, this movie died while it was being made. There was nothing new in it, and there wasn't even anything out of Argento's really old and dated bag of tricks that was done well. Overall, it was a lesson in incompetence.<br />
<br />
<b>The Verdict</b><br />
Remember Argento's heyday thirty years ago. That's all there is to do at this point. Avoid this film at all costs.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-57173794880435292632013-09-17T16:31:00.001-04:002013-09-17T16:31:45.968-04:00Three to start again...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Frankenstein's Army" (2013)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdkxm3hVCxPGDQOTdu9vGUKjC4f7-WIrr_BUTetqcfKwVlIvc0TKU1nuLI20WG8arcYwOuTiEWgAKNTU5e_ibNnSV25C6NiZMelOBAEXizbH5d1RYfMtwUONZHqKU0eic9cjAkTVoB8cd/s1600/Frankenstein's+Army+(2013).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiXdkxm3hVCxPGDQOTdu9vGUKjC4f7-WIrr_BUTetqcfKwVlIvc0TKU1nuLI20WG8arcYwOuTiEWgAKNTU5e_ibNnSV25C6NiZMelOBAEXizbH5d1RYfMtwUONZHqKU0eic9cjAkTVoB8cd/s320/Frankenstein's+Army+(2013).jpg" width="227" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
World War 2 rages on, with the Communists storming through Eastern Germany, and while answering an advance unit's request reinforcement one Soviet unit finds far more than they ever bargained for, a secret Nazi lab in full swing making new kinds of super soldiers. The film's well made and fairly entertaining but does sag a bit in the middle, taking some too long playing one note before gearing up again for the run to the end. All in all, it really is a cut above average, even if just. Rentable.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"The Moleman of Belmont Avenue" (2010)</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8c2qkK63cxuwnsuNaVA6Px0F2J2bPEnYYP2Ze3CKot06nDyGxgTxFDuiSVh5bKNraKdWf7twStWesmIJpFxvtNem-FlqJbmN5jP1DhO_xtV3SRwQ53hyphenhyphenoLuZ9-lSYn6c5-5thc1eQ4MyO/s1600/The+Moleman+of+Belmont+Avenue+%25282010%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8c2qkK63cxuwnsuNaVA6Px0F2J2bPEnYYP2Ze3CKot06nDyGxgTxFDuiSVh5bKNraKdWf7twStWesmIJpFxvtNem-FlqJbmN5jP1DhO_xtV3SRwQ53hyphenhyphenoLuZ9-lSYn6c5-5thc1eQ4MyO/s320/The+Moleman+of+Belmont+Avenue+%25282010%2529.jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Two rather bumbling brothers have run their inherited brownstone apartment building into the ground, and adding to their woes, something's trying to eat every living thing in the place, starting with the tenants' pets. It lives in the basement, and it's up to the boys to stop the menace. It's not exactly a grabbing premise, and unfortunately the film keeps in line such. It's not a bad film. It's certainly not a good one, though Robert Englund stands out as Confab, a mildly creepy and at the same time cool older ladies man. The problem with the film is that only Englund seems to fire on all cylinders. Besides his performance and a few moments here and there, the film's really not that fun. Not recommended.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Manborg" (2011)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3szGpKKUFp7DsWvR4l8sJy-s7yxMeAlOpG0vsw5lK6chU-Fj9YbMKliuUriA0zHttRJVAST2yE_-iXI2ExcB1618G7Dl3ZUwB_rcqnVwKKUhEuXXslwzJe9zK9i84IrV3rYb4gPJje1k/s1600/Manborg+%25282011%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgL3szGpKKUFp7DsWvR4l8sJy-s7yxMeAlOpG0vsw5lK6chU-Fj9YbMKliuUriA0zHttRJVAST2yE_-iXI2ExcB1618G7Dl3ZUwB_rcqnVwKKUhEuXXslwzJe9zK9i84IrV3rYb4gPJje1k/s320/Manborg+%25282011%2529.jpg" width="201" /></a></div>
I will only say that the poster says it all and that this film was made for $1,000 (Canadian). Beyond that, it's the best film on today's list and better than several I have reviewed on this blog. Watching it, it's the 1980s all over again. It's a marvelous pastiche. The nearly nonexistent budget is obvious in every frame, as is the ludicrous amount of fun, work, and love that went into it. "Manborg" is nothing but laugh-out-loud fun all the way through. It's definitely worth renting and/or buying.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-71159901461226964602013-04-15T21:45:00.001-04:002013-04-15T21:45:34.410-04:00Two night clerks alone in a soon-to-close old haunted inn. What could go wrong?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The Yankee Pedlar Inn is about to close after over a hundred years of business. Two clerks have desk duty for the last weekend. One of them is a mildly creepy but somehow almost lovably well-meaning guy who seems to be love with... his laptop, and the other is a rather cute, slightly clumsy, asthmatic young woman with a keen imagination and a desperate desire to... find the resident ghost. Oh, and Kelly McGillis is there, too. Between the tape recorder, the crystal, and the dark, locked basement what could possibly go wrong?</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQCpxLWWQ1tgmvKTwh4TvYce3ZRTiBaJaJJ2o4uFuKChXpO9pYc2XfTCKAtSs2TWWDn2_1qEPPjx7IAexkWpjnlVN7Ytb5fYEVfJwHh7Zpdc0v4MGJ1ljXHT80MfvDEnqoAwwk-q8IcIf/s1600/The+Inkeepers+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNQCpxLWWQ1tgmvKTwh4TvYce3ZRTiBaJaJJ2o4uFuKChXpO9pYc2XfTCKAtSs2TWWDn2_1qEPPjx7IAexkWpjnlVN7Ytb5fYEVfJwHh7Zpdc0v4MGJ1ljXHT80MfvDEnqoAwwk-q8IcIf/s320/The+Inkeepers+2011.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b>"The Innkeepers" (2011)</b></span><br />
written and directed by Ti West.<br />
starring Sara Paxton, Pat Healy, and Kelly MicGillis<br />
<br />
<b>How Is It?</b><br />
It's old school horror and suspense, and it's done well. It's done really, really well.<br />
<br />
<b>The Players</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
All of the players in this film deliver spot-on performances, nothing over the top. Sara Paxton's Claire comes across pleasantly awkward, both socially and physically, and believably innocent, honest, and both serious and fun-loving. Pat Healy's Luke is quite believable also, never remotely unpleasant but with an understated and not well-hidden burden of loneliness. Kelly McGillis' Leanne rounds out the main character cast as the '80s tv celebrity turned mystical healer who is visiting the inn while touring on the convention circuit. The three work solidly together, as well as alone. Solid work all around in front of the camera.</div>
<br />
<b>Behind the Camera</b><br />
Ti West can make a good movie. It was filmed on location in a real inn, and it was just the right place. West uses the interior geography of the place marvelously. It's homey and charming and quaint and all, and it's also a bit eerie, then pretty spooky, and then it's just plain sinister. And the real kicker is that it's never overdone, visually or audially. West keep the emphasis on atmosphere, ratcheting things up bit by both, punctuated with just the right amount of levity, and it winds up with the film really being, in my opinion, a course in how to make a haunted house movie. "Hometown Gothic" is how I would classify the film. For me it's reminiscent in feel to Robert Wise's 1963 classic, and quite possibly the finest haunted house movie ever made, "The Haunting", and that is high praise indeed.<br />
<br />
The photography and lighting are good. The script is tight. The direction is top-notch.<br />
<br />
<b>The Verdict</b><br />
I bought a copy the day after I watched it. It's a solid, dependable, excellent made film. It's a slow burn of a scare, and it's an excellent movie. "The Innkeepers" delivers. Highly recommended.</div>
Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-83839436256672147202012-08-03T23:08:00.000-04:002012-08-03T23:08:13.412-04:00The Thursday List: Foreign Film Edition<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Once Upon a Time in the West" (1968)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjNPN2kOvjQoEdtmwtvrRlTBSp23m8vK8ktUIBBGo8NpFufH-37yk703FyawkfI1mcwUcShlSWHEAKyUoKBHft0infqx40fYzvNtXmBKIY9WXfYeNqGziRosTias4dhyGQODpQJzaNE0F/s1600/Once+Upon+a+Time+in+the+West.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghjNPN2kOvjQoEdtmwtvrRlTBSp23m8vK8ktUIBBGo8NpFufH-37yk703FyawkfI1mcwUcShlSWHEAKyUoKBHft0infqx40fYzvNtXmBKIY9WXfYeNqGziRosTias4dhyGQODpQJzaNE0F/s320/Once+Upon+a+Time+in+the+West.jpg" width="211" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not only is the film that almost single-handedly breathed life back into westerns, it is quite likely legendary Italian film director Sergio Leone's best film... and widely regarded as one of the best, if not the best, western movie ever made. The combination of a strong story, interesting characters well portrayed, Leone's directing near-operatic style, and brilliant score by Ennio Morricone is marvelous and really fires on all thrusters. And Henry Fonda as Frank, in my opinion one of the best screen villains in all cinema, is amazing. This film isn't just a must-see for fans of westerns but also for film fans in general. This film is in my Top 100 and the Top 100 of many others as well. Highly recommended.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"The Devil's Backbone" (2001)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNG-83vV40N-9c1rJDqJl2pBr4YLxv_ww36NSkia-VxfS90vwxsObVnqiOnmwemR6m2_2dLEjEHpLF-qwwIGAtCLxF0N41G_4ptRUeDztx7o_c0Bl_JtcLhEwEk6xe6FT8mE40hOcHZRIv/s1600/devils_backbone-poster2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNG-83vV40N-9c1rJDqJl2pBr4YLxv_ww36NSkia-VxfS90vwxsObVnqiOnmwemR6m2_2dLEjEHpLF-qwwIGAtCLxF0N41G_4ptRUeDztx7o_c0Bl_JtcLhEwEk6xe6FT8mE40hOcHZRIv/s320/devils_backbone-poster2.jpg" width="218" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A horror film set in Spain in 1939, the last year of the Spanish Civil war, "The Devil's Backbone" is simultaneously a compassionate, heartfelt story of humanity, innocence, comradery, human frailty, and sacrifice and a story of greed, viciousness, corruption, fearful villainy, war, and murder. And a ghost story. Guillermo del Toro's work here delivers both a remarkable elegance and a pronounced and relentless dread. This film is in my Top 30 and is held in very high regard by a wide swath of moviegoers as well. It's a horror film, and beautiful, that you would do yourself a real favor to watch. Highly recommended.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"The Third Man" (1949)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWN1eLZPP7XKF5jY-BP7ivMz4F5WAnOrjaHGvfMCAblwSBv9Ue8p80kp4w0H-w2omXGwQWtuVCh6g3uC3ael3-bDox1s34qcHMduhmGOAnCL-Vyx7DbA1O8loK01unzMY2w2bqxbDNFXS-/s1600/the-third-man-poster-17.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWN1eLZPP7XKF5jY-BP7ivMz4F5WAnOrjaHGvfMCAblwSBv9Ue8p80kp4w0H-w2omXGwQWtuVCh6g3uC3ael3-bDox1s34qcHMduhmGOAnCL-Vyx7DbA1O8loK01unzMY2w2bqxbDNFXS-/s320/the-third-man-poster-17.gif" width="238" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the crossroads of post-WW2 Germany, while the Cold War escalates almost quietly, a pulp novelist arrives to visit a friend and finds far more than a bargained for. "The Third Man" is regarded by many to be the best British film of the 20th century, and I am not inclined to disagree. It was brilliantly written by Graham Greene, skillfully and creatively directed by Carol Reed, and Orson Welles and Joseph Cotton, as well as the rest of the cast, deliver near perfect pitch performances. And then there's the memorable score, only one instrument, a zither. Shot simply and much on location in still war-damaged Vienna, the striking cinematography strongly complements the performances and lends enormous atmosphere. This film is in my Top 10. It's a classic. Highly recommended.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-15327004063185308592012-07-30T00:53:00.002-04:002012-07-30T00:55:15.057-04:00Coming Soon: "Twenty-One Questions" (2012)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Here is the trailer for a short film I'm in that was shot last October. It's by the folks at Strawhouse Pictures and should be out to festivals in October. It's a science fiction comedy that's generally a conversation between a time traveler and a bureaucrat. I play the bureaucrat.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.blogger.com/video.g?token=AD6v5dyNwZ8qZ4f_S-Wni8yPZOhU9mSjohhG_1EXXUGzlsncREvYL_E9rMJfUzH56Ry1NbEZR1i6ofmw4JyKdJNpAg' class='b-hbp-video b-uploaded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Should the uploaded video be of a quality not suitable, you can go check it out on Vimeo <a href="http://vimeo.com/46162520" target="_blank">here</a>.</div>
<br />
Enjoy.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-20890138724007123602012-07-27T10:24:00.000-04:002012-07-27T10:24:14.177-04:00Two Things: something cool and something dumb<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Cool Thing</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
In 2006 a cool movie got made. "Behind the Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon". It was a documentary about an aspiring serial killer, and some time during the movie the documentary turns into a slasher film itself. It was funny, had a wonderful and talented cast, was well written and well directed, and was a lot of fun.</div>
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesBYbJCDXv-uCy8nwGxrdpT2HX6jtu6_uxDOzDB8foA78-cMfMoLT4n1hlB-t7BOz5uKxi3HIHySwqpO0Z2Q7384L4dEkG7reXfdvUzbf-Oc5d4ybsLLNHG31ele_ybh6yFW4TI7UJqbh/s1600/Behind+the+Mask+-+familiar+2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiesBYbJCDXv-uCy8nwGxrdpT2HX6jtu6_uxDOzDB8foA78-cMfMoLT4n1hlB-t7BOz5uKxi3HIHySwqpO0Z2Q7384L4dEkG7reXfdvUzbf-Oc5d4ybsLLNHG31ele_ybh6yFW4TI7UJqbh/s320/Behind+the+Mask+-+familiar+2006.jpg" width="217" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsSFmu92nnF6X8tfNOxyWKewVs12jkGo5G4P6CceB3ybaYWuLqzdfHgSB7y00271rqE43bSWsKKF6WUcd8fM9fvb1tPZQ69fJ_SOoGZ_VwUFG2cNBxYnN9MoDd3B0ahFMj-goX3dnX2vg/s1600/Behind+the+Mask+-+The+Rise+of+Leslie+Vernon+2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbsSFmu92nnF6X8tfNOxyWKewVs12jkGo5G4P6CceB3ybaYWuLqzdfHgSB7y00271rqE43bSWsKKF6WUcd8fM9fvb1tPZQ69fJ_SOoGZ_VwUFG2cNBxYnN9MoDd3B0ahFMj-goX3dnX2vg/s320/Behind+the+Mask+-+The+Rise+of+Leslie+Vernon+2006.jpg" width="216" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGbTjCOidedDHS-NqwnicVpdqU502spgLD_XNLu0zRpHKtQlNe1vf6GQ30ysB2uhoT9h7umCTNFsIk885FmvlleP5Y4FS67do0-NEumXUACIfA-1Zr0W1dGUocGbUuqitzr8u0rsYKHVw/s1600/Behind+the+Mask+-+alternate+2006.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDGbTjCOidedDHS-NqwnicVpdqU502spgLD_XNLu0zRpHKtQlNe1vf6GQ30ysB2uhoT9h7umCTNFsIk885FmvlleP5Y4FS67do0-NEumXUACIfA-1Zr0W1dGUocGbUuqitzr8u0rsYKHVw/s320/Behind+the+Mask+-+alternate+2006.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<span style="background-color: black;">Now the same production team wants to make a sequel, and I think it's a good idea, and I've pledged $50 to their Kickstarter campaign. Their studio is apparently nervous about making more horror, and so the "Behind the Mask" gang want to raise $450,000 to make the picture. (The original was made for $262,000.)</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;">Here's the link their Kickstarter page: </span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><a href="http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/609017648/before-the-mask-the-return-of-leslie-vernon" target="_blank">"Before the Mask: The Return of Leslie Vernon"</a></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="background-color: black; font-size: x-large;">The Dumb Thing</span></b></div>
<span style="background-color: black; text-align: justify;">For whatever reason, Blogger will not allow me to comment on any of my posts. Nothing seems to fix it so far, not clearing or resetting my browser, not anything. I'm not ignoring anyone whose commenting, not that there are many of you. I simply can't respond in the comments. More on this as/if it develops.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span><br />
<span style="background-color: black;"><br /></span><br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;">Now go pledge a few dollars to "Before the Mask".</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;">Please.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;">Pretty please.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="background-color: black; font-size: large;">It'll be cool.</span></div>
<br />
<br /></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-70705744156713677492012-07-26T08:45:00.000-04:002012-07-26T08:48:46.264-04:00The Thursday List: Gangster Edition (International)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Kung Fu Hustle (2004)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVJOOhnTpqt0rYPsX0GikxUpYj6nJFRnbu9HRB_ujavyhUswOldMqnr2ObHkTMSO_Acn-UbZlCOYIm1GSWw4NnH6Gh8LRGT0SOPEPi8WtmLw06hxiK55A1cmJ5mRklPdtOF1jAN6is7A2/s1600/Kung+Fu+Hustle+2000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcVJOOhnTpqt0rYPsX0GikxUpYj6nJFRnbu9HRB_ujavyhUswOldMqnr2ObHkTMSO_Acn-UbZlCOYIm1GSWw4NnH6Gh8LRGT0SOPEPi8WtmLw06hxiK55A1cmJ5mRklPdtOF1jAN6is7A2/s320/Kung+Fu+Hustle+2000.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">This movie isn't simply a good story well told. This is my favorite martial arts film ever. It's well paced, with plenty of action, lots of laughs, and just the right amount of drama and suspense, and the special effects are all in service of the story, not simply there to look cool. On top of that it looks like the cast and crew really enjoyed making it, which is a plus in my book. It's a genuinely fun, enjoyable film. Highly recommended.</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>Snatch (2000)</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLvqchvapkHB2k3Mb0AP8H8S16DDmiCItdjCAjhrr1y3sTKQP3OdYX4V3ZyWx2V8g024sccCwfkWV3qPZvAz_PnOp0RW5RKL8eCkIW6_AIyQ2NEKeYcJ0fu128I11txkxucybHM1g5xv4/s1600/Snatch+2000.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcLvqchvapkHB2k3Mb0AP8H8S16DDmiCItdjCAjhrr1y3sTKQP3OdYX4V3ZyWx2V8g024sccCwfkWV3qPZvAz_PnOp0RW5RKL8eCkIW6_AIyQ2NEKeYcJ0fu128I11txkxucybHM1g5xv4/s320/Snatch+2000.jpg" width="233" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">A comedy of errors and omissions between a bunch of villains, ranging from truly bad men and men who desperately want to be truly bad but really aren't. It's a roller coaster, rapidly paced and a bit of a jigsaw. And funny. People get threatened and beat up and killed, but... yeah, it's a gritty crime comedy, with a marvelous cast, including Jason Statham, Benicio del Toro, Dennis Farina, and Stephen Graham. Alan Ford delivers a <i>truly</i> stand-out performance as Brick Top, the main villain and undeniably the film's Most Very Bad Man. This is one of my Top 10 Crime/Caper Films. Highly recommended.</span></span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Jackie Brown (1997)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPWjmuBX_RpV1aW6Olmk25SOn3VEaPyYzm8LVKOnPGCF4syxEozBNNPi5aXiy_RcZamWu9kkAjlbTsshBCyAfZvTs8g3aKoPWFBWcUKYCeLIoJYJsmBduccYTxlLd6lJ0BaZwtXEGnyU8/s1600/Jackie+Brown+1997.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgKPWjmuBX_RpV1aW6Olmk25SOn3VEaPyYzm8LVKOnPGCF4syxEozBNNPi5aXiy_RcZamWu9kkAjlbTsshBCyAfZvTs8g3aKoPWFBWcUKYCeLIoJYJsmBduccYTxlLd6lJ0BaZwtXEGnyU8/s320/Jackie+Brown+1997.jpg" width="214" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="background-color: black;"><span style="color: white;">Some may consider it heretical, but I consider this Quentin Tarantino's best film to date, not that his others have been exactly poor by any stretch of the imagination... except for maybe "Death Proof". It's got the trademark Tarantino pacing and dialogue, but the characters are by and large the most relatable and interesting of his works. It helps of course that the cast is stellar, particularly Robert Forrester, Pam Grier, Robert DeNiro, and Samuel L. Jackson, and they're working from a near-perfect script. High marks all around. Highly recommended.</span></span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-25116849929879812172012-07-05T16:42:00.001-04:002012-07-05T16:42:25.298-04:00The Thursday List - My Shelf Edition (again)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b>"The Ninth Gate" (1999)</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQdgINMy25IT5dUINCMhQgLLejoJ6tlklZmiHuDWI2k76GumWKN117n0i1JCFSwbktFjXbXVeDUcsL9wt_dpM6_5Acsi-gv00uocKaf6tBKttRBW8kWpLbrASx8i-5JxjLHeNeU6pnJCN/s1600/The+Ninth+Gate+1999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQdgINMy25IT5dUINCMhQgLLejoJ6tlklZmiHuDWI2k76GumWKN117n0i1JCFSwbktFjXbXVeDUcsL9wt_dpM6_5Acsi-gv00uocKaf6tBKttRBW8kWpLbrASx8i-5JxjLHeNeU6pnJCN/s1600/The+Ninth+Gate+1999.jpg" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Johnny Depp plays a rare book hustler/dealer who is hired by a ruthless billionaire bibliophile, played by Frank Langella, to authenticate a copy of a legendary occult book reputed to have been dictated by the Devil himself back in the seventeenth century. Hilarity, of course, ensues. Directed, produced, and co-written by Roman Polanksi, the film is well-written, stylish, suspenseful, and well made, and the cast is excellent. Many frown on the movie since it's not another "Rosemary's Baby", which itself is a film I believe highly, highly overrated. I believe "The Ninth Gate" is, I believe, quite underrated, and it is one of my personal occult favorites.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Chinatown" (1974)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGKXDQg1dkxb7O0s24Bll8lqOALpi-hQGBy0l3qNxs3JKuvizLk-LK113Wq27QOcWFscPhnOPXc8xOvRCpP9uBdU1I6c-uHNQ0c53rOgGXXQhl79Brmur3Q6L9wayPKBz6oMXla9WCtxGN/s1600/Chinatown+1974.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiGKXDQg1dkxb7O0s24Bll8lqOALpi-hQGBy0l3qNxs3JKuvizLk-LK113Wq27QOcWFscPhnOPXc8xOvRCpP9uBdU1I6c-uHNQ0c53rOgGXXQhl79Brmur3Q6L9wayPKBz6oMXla9WCtxGN/s320/Chinatown+1974.jpg" width="218" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
This is widely considered to be one of the best all around films ever made, for good reason. It's a Robert Towne script directed by Roman Polanski and starring Jack Nicholson, Faye Dunaway, and John Huston. To put it simply, the film is a master class in just about every aspect of filmmaking, a feat not accomplished by many. The story is engaging. Towne's script it tight and well-paced, as is Polanski's direction, and the cast is, as you might guess, superb. "Chinatown" is a must-see.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-89642515920658496382012-06-14T19:05:00.000-04:002012-06-14T19:05:00.565-04:00Coming Soon: a haunted house<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Sinister"</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
from Summit Entertainment</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object width="320" height="266" class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/ZkwrkYE_plE/0.jpg"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZkwrkYE_plE&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<param name="allowFullScreen" value="true" />
<embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/ZkwrkYE_plE&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Ethan Hawke plays a novelist looking to write a great novel. He and his family can't afford to keep their old house, and so they move into another, cheaper one... one with a bloody history. Things go downhill. The trailer looks good, and so it's here. It piqued my interest, as it features Ethan Hawke and Vincent D'Onofrio.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-51505917883949297582012-06-09T23:51:00.004-04:002012-06-10T18:55:45.243-04:00Alien 5 (a.k.a. the first film)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A dying trillionaire sends a space mission to explore the possibility of meeting humanity's parent race on a distant, newly discovered planet. There are tunnels, shadows, slimy things, dupicitousness, and a big giant face. Hilarity, as ever, ensues on LV-223.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjQJlAlAjh_XwX4r5ELVVMkFfZKWRvRvx8iagCEiulPMPdDSFFpx3oI2rlbeRL_0qxp90QdZFG-zhhdSWaP0626hDn93zbwpUMhyphenhyphenNCgspcwkS6yRPhoN7s3NJZXPNiolxezYl0QgPQWpn/s1600/Prometheus+(2012).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEibjQJlAlAjh_XwX4r5ELVVMkFfZKWRvRvx8iagCEiulPMPdDSFFpx3oI2rlbeRL_0qxp90QdZFG-zhhdSWaP0626hDn93zbwpUMhyphenhyphenNCgspcwkS6yRPhoN7s3NJZXPNiolxezYl0QgPQWpn/s320/Prometheus+(2012).jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Prometheus" (2012)</span></b></div>
<div>
directed by Ridley Scott</div>
<div>
written by Damon Lindelof and Jon Spaihts</div>
<div>
starring Noomi Rapace, Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, Logan Marshall-Green, Idris Elba, and Guy Pearce</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<b>How it is?</b></div>
<div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
I have to come right out with it. The visuals are amazing, but they can't cover up the problems with the script. (My inner scifi fanboy really hated to say that about "Prometheus", but there it is.)</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<b>The Players</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the top there are Michael Fassbender, Charlize Theron, and Idris Elba. Fassbender as the Weyland Corporation's premiere android model, David, steals the show. His is a touching and simultaneously sympathetic and casually menacing performance as the android who seems maybe to want to be human... or at least equal, more than a servant. Theron's portrayal of Vickers, the Corporation's no-nonsense executive representative on board the Prometheus, is spot on and arcs well over the course of the film. Idris Elba as Janek, the captain of the Prometheus, is as close to an everyman as the we get in the film, and his performance as the good captain brings a practical, grounded humanity to the film that is missing for the most part in other main characters.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the other end of the spectrum there are Noomi Rapace and Logan Marshall-Green, but it's not necessarily a matter of lacking performances but rather cardboard characters as written. Rapace's character, Dr. Elizabeth Shaw, was the lynchpin of the whole mission, her theory of an extraterrestially seeded Earth. The theory was more interesting than the character, and the character seemed to be sort of another attempt at bringing scifi and movie fans another Ellen Ripley. Rapace/Shaw simply didn't get enough traction, what with everything else going on in the film. Marshall-Green's character, Shaw's love interest, Charlie Holloway, wasn't substantial enough a character for him to be much more than cardboard. That's not a fault of either and everything to do with the script. And then there's Guy Pearce as Weyland Corporation's aged namesake, Peter Weyland. Pearce manages well with the character through a lot of prosthetic makeup, although Weyland's presence is relatively slight, in both screen time and story contribution.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<b>Behind the Camera</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the top there is Ridley Scott. He is an astonishing film director. With Dariusz Wolski (cinematographer) and Arthur Max (production designer) he made an amazing visual follow-up/prequel to the rest of the <i>Alien</i> franchise. The attention to detail, every little thing practical and digital, was as is his career reputation suggests, mightily impressive. The film moves along at a fair clip the whole way through, with appropriate rising and falling action so the audience gets neither exhausted or lost. Well, mostly neither. The kicker for the film is the writing is where it doesn't quite hold up.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
At the other end of things, there are there's the writing. In a nutshell, <i>Prometheus</i> is either a bit overcomplicated or a bit shoddily written. The skeleton of the story is simple enough and intriguing. There were just too many layers added, for whatever reasons, by screenwriters Spaiht and Lindelof, and rather than an interesting ensemble of characters, each with contributions to make, there were a few interesting characters and some other ones thrown in because story formula demanded it. It just never really gels. (Gosh, my inner fanboy is reeling at this.) The writing simply doesn't measure up to Scott's direction and visual scale or what anyone was expecting, really, and that's a real shame.</div>
<br />
<b>The Verdict</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<i>Prometheus</i> seemed to be more about asking questions than about characters being confronted by those questions and acting accordingly, which is what weakens it. It felt like a conflicted film, a strong visual sense that wanted to show things and get across ideas and a script that didn't know how to stage or explain them effectively so it tended to play with what were sometimes rather obvious tropes. I am notoriously unforgiving of what I believe to be slack or poor or substandard writing, especially from people who ought to know better, and Spaight and Lindelof's script is a decidedly average at best, and the rest of the film can't escape from it.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Due to the strength of the performances by Fassbender, Theron, and Elba and the combined expert visual and technical machinations of Scott and the production crew, the film still comes in looking better than average. It's just that it feels awfully forced in places, trying to cover over the things that really don't really work but were kept in anyway. Alas, the film couldn't live up to the hype.</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-42790302042078858142012-06-08T17:17:00.000-04:002012-06-08T17:19:15.384-04:00an original web series premiered today on YouTube<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"No Fourth Wall" </span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
(Episode 1)</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/YOpUuWLI1s0?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
"No Fourth Wall" is an original web series about three guys (seen above) who are working on starting what they hope to be a hit web series. It's dryly funny, which is always a plus for me, and well-paced. The episodes are going to be short. Episode 1 comes in at 7:14, and that's including credits on both sides and bloopers after the end credits. Go give it a look-see.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-78519035204232661172012-06-07T16:25:00.000-04:002012-06-07T16:26:37.905-04:00A Lonely Guy, Two Dead Women, and Three Guys and a Video Camera (It's not what you think.)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"The Woman in Black" (2012)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuE4Ww_BmfwhmvcbgnfuNpMek8UeUPJsR5y-eqQzCwT2QEZXRasiJu6vJAZ-n-Nc7-XxrMkP6YYaqboLpB3Lypf7GnIKKSenFDAnVwz-scBxq2H-wJVMOnmLuQ9n8C0-hFzMmN1f1PEnxX/s1600/The+Woman+in+Black+(2012).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuE4Ww_BmfwhmvcbgnfuNpMek8UeUPJsR5y-eqQzCwT2QEZXRasiJu6vJAZ-n-Nc7-XxrMkP6YYaqboLpB3Lypf7GnIKKSenFDAnVwz-scBxq2H-wJVMOnmLuQ9n8C0-hFzMmN1f1PEnxX/s320/The+Woman+in+Black+(2012).jpg" width="224" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Technically well executed film, competently directed. Good story but average script. The film is quite atmospheric, gloomy, and visually delicious, but its shocks and scares were by and large stock and predictable and so not really shocking or scary. Excellent performances by the cast, Ciaran Hinds in particular, emphasize the gloom and mystery of the story, but oddly, the story itself didn't hang together well, especially with the ending that disappointingly didn't match the rest of the film. The 1983 book and the 1993 BBC radio drama are much more frightening and tightly written. Average.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Chronicle" (2012)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yYcACb5VYHYKhBEgCCt7wNodYbXZK7EOGrzHARYh6j2pUfUC9Db040yh2gbxCA1V_YfrDJCKgyqPYnz_dKHMGPGDm3ZE_px1hwepcrR99Ws4nHsz7CYMJ4PWaDOGo7XZsGu8BWRl4VRP/s1600/Chronicle+%25282012%2529.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8yYcACb5VYHYKhBEgCCt7wNodYbXZK7EOGrzHARYh6j2pUfUC9Db040yh2gbxCA1V_YfrDJCKgyqPYnz_dKHMGPGDm3ZE_px1hwepcrR99Ws4nHsz7CYMJ4PWaDOGo7XZsGu8BWRl4VRP/s320/Chronicle+%25282012%2529.jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Finally we have a 'found footage' movie that fires on all cylinders. It concentrates on telling a simple, good story very well. The characters are interesting and have reasonable arcs, and the script is generally quite tight. The cast is excellent, and the special effects are used to help in telling the story and not just there for spectacle. They are spectacular, however. It all comes together to make "Chronicle" much, much better than average. It's more than a science fiction special effects fiesta. It's a very interesting "What if?" story about human nature. Highly recommended.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-54161169951996835122012-06-04T18:55:00.000-04:002012-06-07T16:26:28.757-04:00The Thursday List: My Shelf Edition (Pt 4)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">The Blues Brothers (1980)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOf4K1EkN94_1iXdx1f9EbdkASIZXv4P3cjglsF4PFj8AeifR3d7mOwWCIx5GTYBs-qEKVer21e17QfT1nPsJ1liCuYO6czP6c3NCPFn8XEOpgUEbCqDDty5em_e0z8RhBbgGzqfn8OjXz/s1600/The+Blues+Brothers+(1980).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhOf4K1EkN94_1iXdx1f9EbdkASIZXv4P3cjglsF4PFj8AeifR3d7mOwWCIx5GTYBs-qEKVer21e17QfT1nPsJ1liCuYO6czP6c3NCPFn8XEOpgUEbCqDDty5em_e0z8RhBbgGzqfn8OjXz/s320/The+Blues+Brothers+(1980).jpg" width="213" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
As far as I know, this is the first movie to be made exclusively as a vehicle for cast members of Saturday Night Live, and it's the best one. In fact, it's one of the best, most fun comedies of the 1980s. It's got music, an off-the-wall but very dry sense of humor, and quite possibly one of the top three car chases in cinema history. It hits all right notes and deserves its status as a film classic.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>The Bridge on the River Kwai (1957)</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4l9w_wsNA9xYUEm9jPoAB2INd5w-b7jFr7VzrN-u4J33P3ILbDpQlsp4yjJApnD3OyBOMXWug1h1LUNKeKvXX8Tcf5flZ3suU62jccGeKTqiI-oTdl-0jITcmV-8Y5hPhDoS04WNwF_0/s1600/The+Bridge+on+the+River+Kwai+(1957).jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgO4l9w_wsNA9xYUEm9jPoAB2INd5w-b7jFr7VzrN-u4J33P3ILbDpQlsp4yjJApnD3OyBOMXWug1h1LUNKeKvXX8Tcf5flZ3suU62jccGeKTqiI-oTdl-0jITcmV-8Y5hPhDoS04WNwF_0/s320/The+Bridge+on+the+River+Kwai+(1957).jpg" width="208" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Out of all of the films that have been made only about six hundred have been selected to be inducted into the Library of Congress' National Film Registry. This is one of those films. Filmed on location and brilliantly directed and acted, it's engaging on various levels all the way through, and it's production quality is top-notch. It's a must-have for any cinephile's collection.</div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">Casino Royale (1967)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_uptWcQRJK7sY45I_44QUGPY4ckJ4BAGBmbvC7FZxhRbhwsFyaCBKCdMJVSot6jS2NRFW3R8C7WH7LMfxJzPeZ8stv0rhyphenhyphen4aGT6aP9tbTD6SePPbxzJ1fpOD4i6_ayrn6KDcs3MtV8Cs/s1600/Casino+Royale+(1967)+smaller.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn_uptWcQRJK7sY45I_44QUGPY4ckJ4BAGBmbvC7FZxhRbhwsFyaCBKCdMJVSot6jS2NRFW3R8C7WH7LMfxJzPeZ8stv0rhyphenhyphen4aGT6aP9tbTD6SePPbxzJ1fpOD4i6_ayrn6KDcs3MtV8Cs/s320/Casino+Royale+(1967)+smaller.jpg" width="212" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Before Daniel Craig, Pierce Brosnan, Timothy Dalton, Roger Moore, and George Lazenby there was... David Niven. And Peter Sellers... Ursula Andress... Barbara Bouchet, Joanna Pettet, Terence Cooper, and Daliah Lavi -- <i>all</i> as James Bond 007... in the <i>same</i> film. Film historian said it was a "film of momentary vision, collaboration, adaptation, pastiche, and accident. It is the anti-auteur work of all time, a film shaped by the very zeitgeist it took on." In a nutshell: It was a lovably absurd, psychadelic parody of itself. It had multiple directors, several uncredited star cameos, an unusual number of script versions, a legendary feud, and eventually stood upon its release as one of the most expensive films ever made. It's amazing it was ever completed, and it's beautiful to see and lots of fun. Again, a classic.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-70172892530913222012-05-27T20:49:00.000-04:002012-05-27T20:51:05.848-04:00Not really all that rad.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A group of Americans (and two Aussies) go with a former Russian Special Forces tour guide on an "extreme tour" near probably the most infamous man-made disaster site in history. What could <i>possibly</i> go wrong?</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFNZUiuzfrKymMdyIm5BZvAGFc57845tpk7v0-XwwmtSrGpNl74_A4ek6urfycJv5eiq21MtBRAfxv1HxDUksiGMNnooOsL7ovKUSgTEgz82fLqqxHy-lDgH77JZvHCuvfs54TmZg4rNe4/s1600/Chernobyl+Diaries+2012.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFNZUiuzfrKymMdyIm5BZvAGFc57845tpk7v0-XwwmtSrGpNl74_A4ek6urfycJv5eiq21MtBRAfxv1HxDUksiGMNnooOsL7ovKUSgTEgz82fLqqxHy-lDgH77JZvHCuvfs54TmZg4rNe4/s320/Chernobyl+Diaries+2012.jpg" width="216" /></a></div>
<br />
<b><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;">"Chernobyl Diaries" (2012)</span></b><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">directed by Bradley Parker</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">written by Oren Peli, Carey Van Dyke, Shane Van Dyke</span><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">starring Jonathan Sadowski, Jesse McCartney, Olivia Dudley, Devin Kelley, Dimitri Diatchenko, Nathan Phillips, Ingrid Bolso Berdal</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>How is it?</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It never quite figure out what it wanted to be until about half an hour from the end -- when it was too late, and so it decided to be desperately predictable and average.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Players</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The actors and actresses did well with what they had, which were by and large cardboard characters. Up until the script just became overrun with so many cliches there was no room for originality they generally managed to make things interesting. Dimitri Diatchenko as Uri the Extreme Tour Guide gave the best performance by far in the film, and it was genuinely a downer when Uri went the way of all tour guides in horror films. The film lacked a great deal once he was gone, which was too soon.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Behind the Camera</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The film has a very good visual sense. Director Bradley Parker knows visuals. This is his directorial debut, after working in visual effects since the very late 1990s. And oddly, it's the atmosphere of the film that lets it down. Parker never really commits to the horror but leaves it just out of camera range or just out of focus in the dark, and so the movie audience never gets the roller coaster effect, only a series of close calls, dark corners, and the characters experiencing mounting horror without the audience being in it with them. The audience gets drowned in atmosphere until about the last half hour when things start moving quickly, just in very formulaic ways, and when the ending comes it's just... well, there, having been expected. It's not all Parker's fault.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It's Oren Peli's. He's the man who brought Paranormal Acitivies 1, 2, 3 and soon 4. His general schtick is the horrors being left to audience imagination, and that can work really well for some things. With this film it comes across rather forced, as a gimmick. The story is interesting at first, but the screenplay doesn't serve it well. By the end it's down to clicking off the ticky boxes for horror movie conventions, and the audience doesn't really care because there's nothing new or original about it. It's just there. It's almost perfectly average.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>The Verdict</b></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"It's almost perfectly average." That really covers it. It's worth a see if you can pay $5 like I did to see it matinee and you're into the genre. Otherwise wait for it to be on Netflix streaming in two or three months.</span></div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-78101108919116565572012-04-19T23:18:00.000-04:002012-04-19T23:19:47.540-04:00another peek at "The Avengers"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
a clip from Marvel's "The Avengers"</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
-- Loki imprisoned, chats with Nick Fury --</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<object class="BLOGGER-youtube-video" classid="clsid:D27CDB6E-AE6D-11cf-96B8-444553540000" codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=6,0,40,0" data-thumbnail-src="http://1.gvt0.com/vi/HiUA_SWIUeU/0.jpg" height="266" width="320"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/HiUA_SWIUeU&fs=1&source=uds" />
<param name="bgcolor" value="#FFFFFF" />
<embed width="320" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/v/HiUA_SWIUeU&fs=1&source=uds" type="application/x-shockwave-flash"></embed></object></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
"The Avengers" hits U.S. movie theaters on May 5.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-1480125131652662322012-04-04T20:17:00.000-04:002012-04-04T20:17:43.242-04:00Leaving on a jet plane... for a week<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwq_Wc4t5Kg1SEO3qo9UXd08q3_enlYlalxkLiljjNqEKHdC2FlZL3vAYPkleXFx5yqpNg6GUhtcJ3eJ-XY04H6aNpCxvbIfb2C02RV1wWxd7sZ0q4kPG7TKau2jKeYeMa1A17bihz9J_R/s1600/jet+plane.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="185" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwq_Wc4t5Kg1SEO3qo9UXd08q3_enlYlalxkLiljjNqEKHdC2FlZL3vAYPkleXFx5yqpNg6GUhtcJ3eJ-XY04H6aNpCxvbIfb2C02RV1wWxd7sZ0q4kPG7TKau2jKeYeMa1A17bihz9J_R/s400/jet+plane.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
I will be heading out bright and early in the morning to go to the airport.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
So...</div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vdze4fvowg64Awr7ApxRiOeVRd7Jl000RkJLvbzW3dicXBA0DduUW4zXnPbbVdmi1VMoc7XxVo-vgCTlbPJXrrDddYmcLTyHS-42DuQvwiyQXwb4_-mURTF9VQcQBBzRke4YYsWzjObC/s1600/52ce6a1c1e83d86f85a895050684bfc0_width_600x.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg5vdze4fvowg64Awr7ApxRiOeVRd7Jl000RkJLvbzW3dicXBA0DduUW4zXnPbbVdmi1VMoc7XxVo-vgCTlbPJXrrDddYmcLTyHS-42DuQvwiyQXwb4_-mURTF9VQcQBBzRke4YYsWzjObC/s200/52ce6a1c1e83d86f85a895050684bfc0_width_600x.jpg" width="140" /></a></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
Happy Easter.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
See you soon.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-8296829229859423172012-03-29T22:24:00.003-04:002012-03-29T23:29:37.945-04:00Don't Be Afraid of Watching Something Else<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<b><br /></b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
For reasons we never really get to know a little girl we really never get to know or care about gets sent to live with her not terribly supportive, workaholic architect dad and his designer/girlfriend in a big giant spooky house that turns out to have awful little mischievous and bloodthirsty CG creatures in the basement. Hilarity via predictability and narrative paltriness ensues.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc94q2EeigCMGNiUHX7KX7ZVBsuB7Vm0XppTVjk4BRYwwj897tMUw7LS9bwIf3z4d6EU9LsRMXvZrdrQnH_AnBqG4bOIcnh18Xw0TvuYW_jwSvsZNzoeC0RhqI2U872RKEdfnzFMs3tF4e/s1600/Don't+Be+Afraid+of+the+Dark+2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjc94q2EeigCMGNiUHX7KX7ZVBsuB7Vm0XppTVjk4BRYwwj897tMUw7LS9bwIf3z4d6EU9LsRMXvZrdrQnH_AnBqG4bOIcnh18Xw0TvuYW_jwSvsZNzoeC0RhqI2U872RKEdfnzFMs3tF4e/s320/Don't+Be+Afraid+of+the+Dark+2011.jpg" width="215" /></a></div>
<b><span style="font-size: large;">"Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" (2011)</span></b><br />
directed by Troy Nixey<br />
written by Guillermo del Toro and Matthew Robbins<br />
starring Guy Peace, Katie Holmes, and Bailee Madison<br />
<br />
<b>How Is It?</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
To put not too fine a point on it, it's rather flat, all told. It's designed beautifully and looks great, but most of the story and script are rather tired. There are a few good bits here and there, but overall... it's generally a rather ineffective gimmick movie.</div>
<br />
<b>The Players</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
If Guy Pearce had enough screen time in it or if his character was terribly important, which you would think would have been the case, I could tell you how he did. He did alright as an archetype, the Career Success Oriented And Not Terribly Empathetic Father. Katie Holmes manages well as the Awkward Girlfriend/Surrogate Mother Who Doesn't Feel She's Ready To Be A Mother But Finally Finds The Strength When The Kid Is In Danger. To give credit where it's due, both did alright with the material they had to work with. The movie belonged to Bailee Madison, who played the Misunderstood And Terribly Socially Awkward But Allegedly Quite Bright Child, who was let down by two things. One was a woefully ordinary and overly long script for the story. The other was she couldn't carry it and didn't have any help in the effort, primarily from the script and direction.</div>
<br />
<b>Behind the Camera</b><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The film looks great. The sets are very nice and lit and shot pretty well. The shots are well framed, and the movie has atmosphere. And the creatures look good. Troy Nixey's first feature length film<i> looks</i> good. It's just not got much in the way of substance, and it feels maybe like it's maybe twenty or thirty minutes too long. There is too much wandering in the dark, too much spotty lighting, too much emphasis on looking mysterious without there really being any mystery whatsoever. It's not so much a haunted house film as it is a mouse hunt, which is a real let down, and much of it has to do with the script.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
The script is subpar. There. I said it. There's not enough story for its hour and a half, and the story that we get is, well, more than a bit hackneyed. It pains me to say this about a script by Guillermo del Toro, who is one of my favorite directors and storytellers and a true artist of the macabre, but the script, by and large, is just painfully below average. The characters are cardboard and not original, plain and simple. The scares, or what passes for them, come quite by the numbers and are for the most part visible from miles away. And the whole thing reeks of melodrama and fails to establish even an internal reality beyond "This is supposed to be scary." The script is the foundation, and it doesn't work well.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<b>The Verdict</b></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
A very weak script in the hands of a novice director has the odds against it at the outset. "Don't Be Afraid of the Dark" didn't beat the odds. The few good moments it had weren't enough to hold my attention as a viewer. Honestly, if I had not been watching it to review it, I would have switched it off before the thirty minute mark.</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
Not frightening. Dreadfully predictable. Characterless. Uninspiring. Not recommended.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-48212144159170553812012-03-28T00:03:00.000-04:002012-03-28T00:04:17.193-04:00Big things have small beginnings that make for big films.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Prometheus" (2012)</span></b></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/HHcHYisZFLU?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
It took thirty-three years for it to show up, a prequel to "Alien" or at least something to give a shot at explaining the background. It's Ridley Scott's instead of someone else's, which means the likelihood of real quality is much higher than average. I'm looking forward to seeing this one.</div>
</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-61830644882194590272012-03-27T19:28:00.000-04:002012-06-14T19:20:28.264-04:00Trailers, anyone?<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
I find trailers all over the place, and so it's time to start sharing. There are, of course, no guarantees on the full movies, but if the trailers look cool they'll get posted. And it starts with...<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-size: x-large;"><b> "FDR: American Badass" (2011)</b></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/-R898wegx6Y?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>
<br />
Barry Bostwick, Ray Wise, Bruce McGill, Lin Shaye, and Kevin Sorbo... and werewolves? Okay. I will watch this one for fun based on this cast list alone.</div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-16986007508889701292012-03-22T16:24:00.005-04:002012-03-23T06:34:23.512-04:00The Thursday List: My Shelf Edition (Pt 3)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"Apollo 13" (1995)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIbvEgSqfApIJj0RPapqKjoIPFh5ulVgmjOKsznq5TImUQZ-NBvLNKnNFWFJvBuRsMt946tlXzT40QtkDSbAq85N2o8jWeVR1p3aFRyOlTtEtINlGgFTKIjE6moK0EZ8OdvX7LpGe3X8k5/s1600/Apollo+13+1995.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIbvEgSqfApIJj0RPapqKjoIPFh5ulVgmjOKsznq5TImUQZ-NBvLNKnNFWFJvBuRsMt946tlXzT40QtkDSbAq85N2o8jWeVR1p3aFRyOlTtEtINlGgFTKIjE6moK0EZ8OdvX7LpGe3X8k5/s320/Apollo+13+1995.jpg" width="239" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It was a rough year at the Academy Awards that year, and as cool as "Braveheart" was, for my money this was the Best Picture. Superbly directed, visually stunning, with a top-notch script and near flawless cast, "Apollo 13" is a master class on how to put together an historical drama for film. It also put into pop culture the saying I hear several times a year: "Houston, we have a problem." I believe this film was tops in what was truly a good year for movies.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"Army of Darkness" (1992)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOujbOaUpQRVTg6hN20UgN05RHM6JKkhR1SZ9fRnkhr9VLOeVd1cr5CElsDhGmOASxDNSjN61KFfoBcmxyJy2am_jQA-dYA1GiAkMTre8otrYagP9UlAMmVdAmyyeaOVGxaZsG-Zbp6WDo/s1600/Army+of+Darkness+1992.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOujbOaUpQRVTg6hN20UgN05RHM6JKkhR1SZ9fRnkhr9VLOeVd1cr5CElsDhGmOASxDNSjN61KFfoBcmxyJy2am_jQA-dYA1GiAkMTre8otrYagP9UlAMmVdAmyyeaOVGxaZsG-Zbp6WDo/s320/Army+of+Darkness+1992.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">While relying more on slapstick comedy than the violence and gore of its two predecessors, "Army of Darkness" is a fun comedy-horror, and Bruce Campbell is in top form. Critics generally panned it when it came out, comparing it to the first two Evil Dead films, but that was a mistake. On its own "Army of Darkness" holds it own and has a distinct style and tone, and it's good stuff.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Batman" (1989)</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIR3fHFJEQsgJ-M5X-D9WHo4g9SZVLLbNPM7CfArn11HH9yWed8o5CsraCOK6o9blhVMGrCAsJEZC2bkvJ05brwG0USVz0vwWslPJX90PuVSTdF84EogjN7-uls9cDuSYlCPOLz4ifcqGN/s1600/Batman+1989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgIR3fHFJEQsgJ-M5X-D9WHo4g9SZVLLbNPM7CfArn11HH9yWed8o5CsraCOK6o9blhVMGrCAsJEZC2bkvJ05brwG0USVz0vwWslPJX90PuVSTdF84EogjN7-uls9cDuSYlCPOLz4ifcqGN/s320/Batman+1989.jpg" width="218" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">With all the hubbub over Christopher Nolan's two Batman film installments and Heath Ledger's Joker, many people look back uncharitably on Tim Burton's film, and that's a shame. It's a good script with a good story. It has very good, stylized art direction and a distinct, dark feel. Its Batman, portrayed by Michael Keaton, and its Joker, portrayed by Jack Nicholson, don't disappoint. It's just cultural tastes have changed. "Batman" is a very good film, and I recommend it.</div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-80894171022955932532012-03-15T00:32:00.000-04:002012-03-15T00:32:01.100-04:00The Thursday List: My Shelf Edition (Pt 2)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div><div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"Aliens" (1986)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92LYxSQrfEHuwOv27V0AMd7o41QWIolJ3nWw_M8zyYRgH4MmjmQ14yKVerq8u8PTDCZ9IqJkr9aDFhMZitmO0n3bkdWKfdYpKzs3Y3XjyzQ-2INhzeoy4O3gK_EyQFgr9sfNK2HN4bhZA/s1600/Aliens+1986.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj92LYxSQrfEHuwOv27V0AMd7o41QWIolJ3nWw_M8zyYRgH4MmjmQ14yKVerq8u8PTDCZ9IqJkr9aDFhMZitmO0n3bkdWKfdYpKzs3Y3XjyzQ-2INhzeoy4O3gK_EyQFgr9sfNK2HN4bhZA/s320/Aliens+1986.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">This film was an integral part of my development as a kid, a science fiction buff, an actor and writer, and a movie fan. It's a sequel unlike its predecessor in style and can work by itself as a standalone film. Its script is top notch, and it's a technically superbly executed film. All of it has held up well over time, the special effects in particular. It's a smashingly entertaining cinema experience.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">"Alien 3" was included on a <a href="http://mcqwertymovieometer.blogspot.com/2012/02/thursday-list-renewal.html" target="_blank">recent Thursday List</a> and so will be skipped for this segment.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"An Innocent Man" (1989)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDGiOGa-GIRswZdUoTtmsc2H58uCV78rlo5avdZc2ehoMWRnPAzcBW5f0bRj8l55fkW6Eve1ttU8BACKqm0S7Lg5Ga8SBXX2accBMQo1m9bjZ6NJTpnN_QYUU6KC4SlHAcsiGn6pzSbiU/s1600/An+Innocent+Man+1989.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMDGiOGa-GIRswZdUoTtmsc2H58uCV78rlo5avdZc2ehoMWRnPAzcBW5f0bRj8l55fkW6Eve1ttU8BACKqm0S7Lg5Ga8SBXX2accBMQo1m9bjZ6NJTpnN_QYUU6KC4SlHAcsiGn6pzSbiU/s320/An+Innocent+Man+1989.jpg" width="215" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">A pretty solid drama, this is one I came across quite by accident back in the '90s while channel surfing one night. It's a simple story, effectively told, and featuring a very good cast, with Tom Selleck and F. Murray Abraham at the fore. The script is well written and tight, and it's well directed and gets everything right on cue. It's kind of predictable, but it's genuinely engaging and so is better than most. I like it.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"An American Werewolf in London" (1981)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP7cv9ro8Co5e1XHhT7m58JZE-Sq-DigdFrqYvvcBdLydp24vED1WpCYncpQ-jlCsrRJ2VXvTkSOPeJ9UT2hkit-5yj_9Pvo1GyEurhI7_cMiuyGoiHd-W52a7Z4Zt594bwZRYO2Q7Gr4X/s1600/An+American+Werewolf+in+London+1981.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgP7cv9ro8Co5e1XHhT7m58JZE-Sq-DigdFrqYvvcBdLydp24vED1WpCYncpQ-jlCsrRJ2VXvTkSOPeJ9UT2hkit-5yj_9Pvo1GyEurhI7_cMiuyGoiHd-W52a7Z4Zt594bwZRYO2Q7Gr4X/s320/An+American+Werewolf+in+London+1981.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">This was one of the first movies I ever saw on cable television and was the source of some of my fiercest nightmares as a pre-teen. Sometimes deadly serious, sometimes comic, sometimes deadly serious and comic -- it's a highly effective, quickly paced, very well performed, and extremely fun horror film. It was the first VHS tape I ever bought, the third DVD and third Blu-Ray I ever bought. A solid film. One of my favorites.<br />
</div></div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2065997450962423410.post-90784349218118557872012-03-08T23:34:00.001-05:002012-03-08T23:35:03.448-05:00The Thursday List: My Shelf Edition (Pt 1)<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">I don't have an enormous library of movies. Well, I don't have nearly as enormous a library of movies as I would like. Let's put it that way. The following is the start of the list that will be on Thursdays for a while. I'm going to detail what I have and why.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"2001: A Space Odyssey" (1968)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjN2KytB9cwJAjrxyM4SWWrXVgqyuCi6ydBCep-z8JqMQxHgbkgmkVk_bMTHzMKx9NgNzD5PXe71AcOgUVA-WmklpoOZ9vnJQaUZoDdKm53Mt-o81sifmNV0l21thk2GA6-uxlk6YJUAH/s1600/2001+A+Space+Odyssey+1968.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkjN2KytB9cwJAjrxyM4SWWrXVgqyuCi6ydBCep-z8JqMQxHgbkgmkVk_bMTHzMKx9NgNzD5PXe71AcOgUVA-WmklpoOZ9vnJQaUZoDdKm53Mt-o81sifmNV0l21thk2GA6-uxlk6YJUAH/s320/2001+A+Space+Odyssey+1968.jpg" width="225" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Easy. This is one of the best, most influential films ever made. For all intents and purposes technically perfect, it wove special effects seamlessly into a marvelous story, balancing the two perfectly in a way, alas, not seen again until 1982's "Blade Runner"... and then not much after. It's #2 in my Top Ten and was the second Blu-Ray disc I ever bought. I watch it once or twice a year. It's that phenomenal.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: x-large;"><b>"2010: The Year We Make Contact" (1984)</b></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOHto3ubEZ9_XJqFmEKnz0wuMYU8A1HO82C5VHZWFqSN5_kPfkLLfXVAolRtLPKEcmb8uKARAP8x2SryFGWTCfo0aZZ9NeMS3x7KZh3vSLPPmlDynVEKT8t69XEw3e4b4bbxVUa5DgdP6/s1600/2010+The+Year+We+Make+Contact+1982.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjAOHto3ubEZ9_XJqFmEKnz0wuMYU8A1HO82C5VHZWFqSN5_kPfkLLfXVAolRtLPKEcmb8uKARAP8x2SryFGWTCfo0aZZ9NeMS3x7KZh3vSLPPmlDynVEKT8t69XEw3e4b4bbxVUa5DgdP6/s320/2010+The+Year+We+Make+Contact+1982.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">It's an '80s movie, and it looks like one... a lot. And it's dated... a lot. That said, it's solid, well conceived and executed, entertaining, in one of two scenes rather moving, and the cast is exceptional. It was also one of the first movies I ever watched when my parents go HBO. So in addition to being a very good film it's one of this film geek's sentimental favorites.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="font-size: x-large;">"Alien" (1979)</span></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtPUqsfpBgF6tPB_ae97GZ_BiaQiM6W3Y179wcrW9T0Z_hHDdvs1xeWGWyCT6elsJDcrxucA1BtF7Ilu84CN6dQNoUtp9xMYCO22UvxwUd1Cbu2hVBTEvGr763I6aaLk-UyKsdEVnp2_I9/s1600/Alien+1979.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtPUqsfpBgF6tPB_ae97GZ_BiaQiM6W3Y179wcrW9T0Z_hHDdvs1xeWGWyCT6elsJDcrxucA1BtF7Ilu84CN6dQNoUtp9xMYCO22UvxwUd1Cbu2hVBTEvGr763I6aaLk-UyKsdEVnp2_I9/s320/Alien+1979.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Again, easy. This is one of the top ten science fiction films ever made, as well as one of top one hundred films ever produced. I owned it on VHS, and then on DVD. I now have the Blu-Ray, and I'll get it on whatever format comes next. "A simple story, brilliantly told." That's it in a nutshell. Add to that a striking visual design that hasn't aged a bit in over thirty years and one of the greatest shocks in the history of cinema, and that's why it's in my collection. </div></div>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/04691654196384021214noreply@blogger.com0