I've noticed we have similar tastes in movies, and I thought this was brilliant, so I'm positive you'll dig it.

ha... I kept doing the same thing... Glad I'm not the only one. Every time I saw "Death Sentence," I immediately thought "Dead Silenece" and what a disappointing film it was... Honestly, the concept of creepy dolls = cool. Execution and "twist," I agree - Lame.

Death Sentence, however, haven't seen.

Movies that I am hoping will make the BEST:
Juno
I Am Legend

I also want to see...
No Country for Old Men
Romance and Cigarettes... I love John Turtoro.

Curious about seeing, but not sure yet...
Gone Baby Gone
American Gangster

There were a few people who said those last two were the "BEST"... Tell me about them, please. I want to hear more. :)

excellent, can't wait.
thanks for the advice.

for what its worth:

Tops:
No Country for Old Men
Eastern Promises
Darjeeleng Limited

Worst:
300
1408
Hannibal Rising

Yeah, I'd add 1408 to the worst, hands down... Honestly, I thought that the first half hour was brilliant, well directed, acted, and the concept was incredible... but it just melted from there, sadly.

I don't know how you can say 300 was bad.....

Yeah, I thought that odd. 300 certainly wasn't one of the worst. And while I'm not as in love with it as most of the teenage male population, I can admit that the visuals alone warrant a watch. It's chock full of cheese, however. Maybe that's why he didn't lick it? Personally I laughed my ass off, and sat back and enjoyed the light show.

While I wouldn't call it bad, 300 was the biggest dissapointment of the year, in my opinion. I expected so much and got so little.

300 was easily one of the best of the year, for me. It didn't try to be anything it wasn't. It's not historically accurate, and it didn't take itself too seriously. It's a big action flick filled with testosterone, incredible images, great one liners and that's what I expected going into the flick. That's what I got and more. It's very faithful to Miller's comic, and while there are some things that were added in, it all works well in the end.

This being said, I can't make a damn list cause most of the movies you all are listing still haven't been released here (that's the bitch about living in a foreign country).


EDIT : Can add in a worst, though: Dead Silence.... good lord, I even fell asleep in the theatre. Woke up just in time for the Saw-like twist, and left. Maybe I should check it out again...

Oh, it really is hilarious, we even own it now, because I think it is great fun, as long as you don't take it too seriously. I can see why some would be disappointed by it though for sure. I just don't expect too much from most movies anymore, and as long as I am entertained, that's the best I can hope for. And it certainly was entertaining. All the guys looked like male strippers, and the way they were always posing....it was soooooo silly, good stuff....:p

nah, don't bother. you're not missing anything.

I saw most of Death Sentence last night.

Could someone explain to me what the big twist in the end was, coz I didn't see it..

Dead Silence

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ogrl/10m-3.jpg

vs.

Death Sentence

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v6...ogrl/10m-4.jpg



Dead Silence was a terrible haunted-dolls film by the creator of Saw.

Death Sentence - I haven't seen that one yet... But now I'm going to make sure I can tell them apart. :confused:

...

RE: 300

I wouldn't say that it was THE BEST, but I don't think that it's THE WORST, either... Honestly, the visual effects were hot (I'm sorry, but I canNOT consciously argue with 300 men with bulging biceps running around in loincloths :p )... It was pretty to watch.

The story and dialogue was pretty lame, but that's not what I came to... see... hee hee

I guess I wanted MORE over-the-top visuals, but overall, it was a really fun experience.

See I went in to 300 knowing it would be over the top because it was based on the graphic novels and I knew it would have cheesey one liners and just fun action. I enjoy all those kind of things in a movie. If a movie doesn't take it self too seriously then it will be amazingly fun. For example go see Shoot Em' Up if you haven't yet because that is mindless action that is so over the top and cheesey it doesn't hurt itself by taking itself too seriously. I highly recommend it.

I pretty much agree. I didn't know the graphic novels. But no, it didn't take itself too seriously, and that is OFTEN a problem I have with movies. Movies where the people responsible for them just seem to think they are better or more clever than they really are. 300 didn't come across that way at all.

Ooo! Ooo! Ooo!

Another to add to the WORST of 2007!!!

Captivity

Who knew that making a torture-porn movie would be so difficult?

Just... Abysmal.

Best:

Shrek the Third
Ratatouille
The Messengers

Worst:

The Reaping

I was impressed by The Messengers, to tell you the truth, though the ending was pretty damn lame.

Other than that, it was a really well-constructed little ghost story. Not to mention, the special effects and the portrayal of the ghost themselves (does anyone know if there's an actual technical term for those kind of special effects?) always creep me out.

Best:

Dead Silence
Hot Fuzz
Children of men
30 days of night
Blades of glory
Apocalypto
Dynamite Warrior


Worst:

1. Freakshow!!!

House on haunted hill 2
2 days in paris

yay someone else who enjoyed dead silence

Hell yes.

To me, Dead Silence was THE best horror movie to come out of 2007.


Nice blend of horror and fairytale.

I agree with it being the best horror movie to come out of 07, no idea why a lot of people didn't like it.

SPOILER FOR THE TWIST.

For those who missed it... the twist was, that the main character's father - who we see him interacting with repeatedly through the course of the film, always around his female partner (he is on a wheelchair and it is assumed he needs her assistance in even the simplest of tasks.) - is actually dead, and being controlled like a puppet. The female partner has gutted him, and stuck a stick in the back where his spine would be located, which moves his jaw.

Not only did this has very little to do with the plotline, minus the fact that the movie had something to do with puppets, but it was also tacked on to the ACTUAL ending, VERY VERY VERY poorly. It's like... you read a novel and you have a beginning, middle, and end, and then all of a sudden you there is an additional 7 pages that feels like a misprint, because the fucking thing already ended the way it should have.

It's like, the movie ends in a somewhat satisfying manner, and then... it's not actually over. You get a 1.5 minute little "twist" scenario coming out of NOWHERE. It feels like an epilogue more then a continuation. It's just poor film-making. Again, it's as if they decided last minute to add this twist ending. "The film's not good enough to go to theatres. *shelves*" "B-but... I added this!" "Oooh. Twists = ticket sales! SEND OUT THE PRINTS! Oh, and reference SAW in the promotional material."

It ruined the whole film for me, it was just a cop-out.

Honestly, I thought that the movie was pretty poor from the get-go.

Then again, honestly, I'm not that much into investigative horror, but I thought that the scares weren't that great, the dialogue was TERRIBLE, all of the characters were charicatures, not people. You have THE COP. THE RICH FAMILY. THE SMALL TOWN. THE MORTICIAN. Not to mention, the acting was poor, and the use of the doll was just, well, more cheesy than effective.

I really liked the concept of a small-town children's fairy tale coming to life... And I thought that some of the visuals were definitely powerful and chilling (the flashback to her stageshow, pretty much all of the scenes in the mortician's house, not to mention the "deserted" amphitheater). But I never really thought that the concept really came into fruition.

And I agree with Josh... The "twist" was really really terrible. As if we didn't have enough reveals, this contrived ending was capped on, simply out of nowhere, that took the level of cheesiness to a whole new extreme (because, at THIS point I realized that the movie was taking itself VERY seriously and that this was supposed to truly be High Art and, you know, "intellectual" - Guess you didn't see THAT coming! boy oh boy).

Dead Silence is one of those films in where its spectacle is outweighing function... It's too over-the-top to the point where I simply can no longer suspend my belief. I mean, I realize it's essentially a ghost story, but you have to be able to suspend your belief to REALLY get into a ghost story... And this one just seemed ridiculous to me.

I agree Dead Silence was more than a tad ridiculous, and I don't think it was one of the best of the year. But I also don't think it was one of the worst. I actually enjoyed it more than I expected to, considering I am NOT much of a Saw fan (I actually feel Saw is one of those films guilty of thinking it is far more clever than it really is, and taking itself far too seriously). I didn't care for some of the special effects, and a lot of it was cheesy, but I actually found myself having fun with it.

okay,
i was disappointed (bigtime) with dead silence as well, and i wasn't even expecting much.

to its merit, however, (since plenty of cons have been addressed) i thought that the mood and atmosphere of the movie were both really well-done. very creepy and foreboding, despite copious cheese. it had a very-old fashioned horror movie feel to it, and i really appreciated that.
another thing i appreciated was the fact that it had an overtly reoccurring musical theme. horror movies seem to have gotten away from this and i liked seeing that.

those are about all the redeeming qualities i can think of, though.

Dead Silence was a good time-killer, but it was too boring to keep up with. I don't think that much happened. As to the ending, I actually liked that. I'm not going to ruin it, but it did catch me by surprise (not a Saw surprise, but a surprise nonetheless). I owuld pick it up if it was on the 4 for $20 deal at BlockBuster, but that's about it. Nothing to get excited over. Now, 1408 on the other hand, was a great one-man show, and had some creepy moments to it. And the ending was classic!

There is actually more then one ending to 1408. The theatrical, and the Director's Cut. I saw the latter, and didn't bother investigating the prior. I probably should, as I am rather curious.

spoilers below, just in case.














i only saw the theatrical ending, but was impressed with it. i liked the fact that they heard his daughter on the tape recorder, and the devastating explosion of emotions that must have conjured up in the both of them, and you can see it on their faces, then it's over. i really liked that.

the movie to me was so-so. nothing spectacular. i don't envision myself ever really wanting to watch it again, but i guess it was fun to see on a date.

Huh. I was unaware of that... I've only seen the Director's Cut (that's what was On Demand), and in regards to the ending, I thought, well, that it fit the movie (though as a whole I thought the movie was weak).

My boyfriend and I had a discussion, though, as in What was the theatrical release like?

It manifested from me asking, "HOW did 1408 get such good reviews??" because, honestly, while it started strong, I thought that it really got boring. I'm wondering if maybe there was a LOT left in the Director's Cut that was just tripe that might have been cut out of the theatrical release, making the release a better movie.

Now I'm kinda curious too.

I agree. I really went into 1408, ready to love it. Everything was going well, right up until the film began repeating itself. As if they had ran out of material. After he "woke up" and found his wife, the film took a massive drop. I became bored. I also thought that the ending was rather, eh, poor. Though the theatrical ending sounds excellent, as described by fortunato above.

Oh, I agree, that part was TERRIBLE... I kept asking myself, "Ok, WHEN are we supposed to get back into the room??"

It was one of those scenes that the boyfriend and I discussed afterward... I wonder if it was cut significantly shorter in the theatrical release, because it definitely changed the pacing of the film - and not in the good way... Up until that point, the film was fairly quickly-paced and creepy, but at that point, it slowed down and REALLY started to get ridiculous.

i'm not sure how long it was on the dvd release, cause i only saw the movie in theaters, but the whole part where he was "out" of the room and reconnecting with his wife was pretty long in when i saw it too. you're absolutely right, it really screwed with the pacing in a bad way. that slowness stuck right there in the middle of the faster-paced "scary" parts definitely made it draaaaaaaag. i'm really confused by 1408, though. in the end, it kind of seemed like they had a good idea that was messed up by trying to make it a blockbuster (i.e. trying to please as many people as possible: the death of many potentially great movies).

I loved 1408, while it did kind of repeat itself a bit it was on a whole really good. What was the other ending? I mean not the theatrical ending.

Normally, I'm one to hate repitition, but in 1408, it worked. The ghosts probably ran out of things to do after an hour, since they're not used to people lasting longer than that. *SPOILER* And as far as Cusack going back into the room, thinking he escaped, I thought that worked perfectly. *END OF SPOILER* 1408 is a great movie, in my opinion, and is one of the best horror movies in recent years.

These are just "some" of the dvd's and movies at the cinema i have seen this year.

The Best:

28 Weeks Later
Knocked Up
Clerks 2
Live Free Or die hard
The Hitcher (remake)
Zodiak
Altered
Black book
Death at a funeral
This Is England

The Worst:

Vacancy
Ghost Rider

That was released in 2006. I do agree that it is a great movie though.

I'm totally with you on Black Book. Verhoeven surprised me.

Best:
28 Weeks Later<---------------------Best Horror Movie of the Year
Planet Terror/Death Proof
Disturbia
Dead Silence
Wrong Turn 2
The Messengers
Vacancy


Worst:
The Hitcher (remake)
1408.... It wasnt horrible but I was disappointed by it. The trailer and reviews built it up.
The Hills have Eyes 2.... An ok film.
Bug... It was getting rave reviews but I found it to be an ok film. Not horrible!
Breed... I caught 10 mins of this on television!
Hannibal Rising

BEST OVERALL MOVIE: Knocked Up

I just watched 28 Weeks Later and it certainly was one of the best horror movies of the year.