At last! A movie where the skeptic is proven to be totally right and science and reality win! Although not this movie... (to be honest, I have no idea what movie I was referring to there...)
It does give it a good go. A preacher who has lost his faith is out to show how fake exorcisms are and goes on one last case... and at that point (about 10 minutes in) a three-year-old baby can tell you the rest of the plot. We do get the fake exorcism through some nicely spliced footage(*), but then, of course, it starts getting actually weird and what is really going on? Could it be... there is something to believe in...?
(*) There's a huge issue with this "documentary" about who is releasing this film, let alone editing it, but I've given enough away...
Patrick Fabian gives a great performance as the lead Cotton Marcus. Ashley Bell proves rather flexible as Nell Sweetzer (I could tell there was no CGI there!). ...and the rest of the actors are there.
This film could nearly be a rational film... but of course where's the money in that? As a horror movie, it's decent enough, but nothing too spectacular.
[END]
Monday, 31 January 2011
The Last Excoriation
Sunday, 30 January 2011
there are monsters
Very freaky / creepy.
(Actually, click through to the movie, make sure overlay comments are off (the speech balloon) then watch full screen. Not that there are comments all over the place, but they kind of ruin the mood at the end.)
[END]
Saturday, 29 January 2011
Buryed
Just to prove he's talented Ryan Reynolds skips from action, to rom-com, to independent-film-about-being-stuck-in-a-coffin to another action movie with a green ring.
The story is simple: Paul was a trucker in Iraq that got captured and stuck in a coffin underground so the terrorists can ransom him for money. We then follow him as he tries to survive and reach out to the world through a cellphone, until he...
Well, what do you think? This is an indie picture, so don't expect the usual plot points to happen. There are some very nasty moments, and Ryan Reynolds delivers a very credible performance, being in which I'm sure must have been an extremely uncomfortable shooting set.
Looking at the IMDB entry, it doesn't look like it came to meeting it's costs... on the other hand, I highly doubt the budget was $3mil... While a sequel would be tricky, I can certainly see this team going on to other movies...
[END]
Friday, 28 January 2011
The Liev Schreiber Trope
While re-watching Salt, I saw that Liev Schreiber is in it. (Yeah, like you remembered anyone in that other than Angelina.) And I remembered a basic premise about Liev's roles. He's usually a jerk, and ultimately ends up:
a) the bad guy; or
b) dead.
Or both. And not necessarily in that order.
However, as I'm about to discuss several movies of his, and possibly give away spoilers, I'm going to hide the rest of this away. Note: I'm not going for all his movies, just those I can remember, so mainly the action ones...
Start with Salt. Is revealed as a), then ends up b).
In X-Men Origins: Wolverine, he starts out as Logan's brother, but ends up as Sabertooth, so a) he is! Doesn't get b) though.
In The Omen he completely fails to be a). b) is de rigueur for those movies though...
His a) status in The Manchurian Candidate is debatable. His b) status isn't.
He nearly survives the Scream movies, but by number 3, he's b).
Phantoms is interesting in that first he is b)... and then he becomes a).
...and I can't remember any others. Anyone else?
[END]
Thursday, 27 January 2011
From Bad To... Less Bad
Why do I watch these movies?
Dark Island (2010): The basic premise is generic, but interesting. Team of people goes missing on island, another team is sent in to find out what's up. The big bad in this case is the Smoke Monster from Lost. However, exactly what caused this monster is explained... but I wasn't paying attention. We are subjected to backstories for the characters, and twists and turns as people's agendas are suddenly uncovered, and... gah! Way to mess up an interesting story! Actors in the movie you might have heard of are... Um... not a good movie.
Vampire Girl vs. Frankenstein Girl (2009): A Japanese movie that is in the classic style of bizarre happenings and buckets and buckets and fountains of blood flowing. The Vampire Girl decides she wants a new boyfriend, but there's another girl interested, and the teachers are crazy, and the Vampire Girl enjoys being a vampire and is completely callous about killing off anyone who finds out, and then there are the wrist cutters (it's an event!) and the wanna-be African girls and... madness... enjoyable, wacky madness, but madness none-the-less.
Coming Soon (2008): A ghost horror movie from Thailand, which reminded me of Ringu. A new film is about to be released, some people get previews, and then deaths start happening, and it seems to be one of the characters from the movie. I won't explain what exactly is causing it, but it is an interesting variant on the usual ghost story causings. Not a lot of shocking scares, although the atmosphere is well built up and maintained. A decent ghost story.
Virus X (2010): (Also known as H1N1: Virus X.) A wealthy woman wants her own plague, so H1N1 is called in to service. However, the medical team creating it are exposed to the virus, and now they are on the road to death. A dreary, slow and, again, fatalistic movie, but at least it has a known actor in the form of Sybil Danning. This movie takes itself too seriously to be enjoyed.
Look at that, the two worst movies were American... how about that?
[END]
Wednesday, 26 January 2011
Let's Compare, Shall We?
There's something in the darkness, something that can reach out and grab you without even a pause for breath. Something is out there...can you survive?
Take One: Phantoms (1998)
Yes, that's right, a movie starring Ben Affleck, but even more so Joanna Going, Rose McGowan and Peter O'Toole. The two women arrive in town to find people dead and other people missing. What's going on? It's the Ancient Enemy, and it lives in the darkness, and can do all manner of weirdness. The only way to survive is to work out what's going on.
Take Two: Vanishing on 7th Street (2010)
This time featuring Hayden "I start off as the most unobservant man in the world, but quickly become the biggest douche in the world" Christensen, with Thandie "I'd like to have a career sometime" Newton and John "Slid the Slothththth" Leguizamo. There is a blackout, and everyone disappears, leaving behind their empty clothes. Only a few people remain, and the sun is making shorter appearances in the day (so we are told and not shown), and in the darkness something or someones are moving. The only way to survive is to stay in the light. [Not in a Pitch Black way.]
A mere twelve years apart, these films could hardly be different. Both does have something strange happening, and the darkness becomes a threat (and both cite the Roanoke incident). In both movies, the main characters are pretty ineffectual... However, there is a completely different mindset. In Phantoms, it's all about "what can we do to defeat this?" In Vanishing, there is no hint whatsoever of fighting back, instead it's all about the main characters getting together and whining about being trapped, until they get picked off one by one (with obvious exceptions).
Phantoms is Action. Could even call it Victorious. Vanishing is Survival. Indeed, it's really part of a category that could be called Defeatist.
I know which I think is the better movie...
[END]
Tuesday, 25 January 2011
I've Been Watching...
This time, I worked my way through The Keys of Marinus. Spaced it over a few days, and the pace of the story, quite enjoyable! Although I want to go through TSV issues and read Altos Loves Yartek strips... (which aren't online :( ).
This was the first story to have an episode (in fact two) without the Doctor in it. Is it still Doctor Who if there's no Doctor? How far can you go with no Doctor and still call it Doctor Who? At what point do you call it Torchwood or Sarah Jane Adventures? Anyway, William Hartnell is visibly better after two weeks holiday. You can understand why they go for younger actors...
There's not a lot of features on the disc. There is an interesting feature with Ray Cusick, where he says how much he completely failed to like anything about this story. Have to side with the commentary that the picture hides a lot of issues. I also liked the photo gallery, which I usually just skim through. However...
After seeing those photos, in particularly the colour photos... I'm with Carol Ann Ford. Yes, getting animations or similar of the missing episodes would be nice, but I've love to see one of these black and white series done in colour. Especially this episode. There are some sets and costumes that would be amazing!
Off to Babelcolour!
[END]
