Yes! I really enjoyed this movie!

Yea it had it's moments. A few of them I could more than relate to. http://www.pic4ever.com/images/14k8gag.gif

Frankenstein's Army:
Loved it! Also loved that it was "found footage", my guilty pleasure.

"The Incredible Burt Wonderstone" 8-9/10

Hilarious.

Might be the funniest i've ever seen Steve Carell in a lead role and the funniest i've seen Jim Carrey in many years. Even Steve Buscemi and especially Alan Arkin had me laughing several times. Everybody just seemed to be at their funniest in this movie. The story wasn't bad either.

Definitely the funniest movie of 2013 for me.

American Hustle

the cast did a great job on this one.

Brilliant review and I completely agree with you. Absolutely adored this movie. When I first saw it, I didn't "get" it per se, but it was definitely something that I connected to emotionally. The sound and direction are just so haunting. After reading a few analysis of it online, I grew to appreciate it more and now that I've had some time away from it I want to see it again.


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My recently watched...


True Adolescents (2009)

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Continued with my Mark Duplass journey, I found this movie absolutely delightful - Subtly funny (a skinny jean-wearing hipster hiking with Converse in the woods - brilliant!) and ultimately charming. Duplass was fun to watch as the 34-year-old Hipster taking his cousin and cousin's friend on a camping trip - It's a solid mumblecore coming-of-age film with good humor and a lot of heart. I really loved this. Definitely recommended for fans of Duplass and mumblecore.

4/5.


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Y Tu Mama Tambien (2001)

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I tried with this one, I really did. I gave it an hour until I ultimately gave up. I can't say that it's a bad movie; I just feel as though I watched it out of context. I think that if I saw it when it came out, I probably would have been impressed and interested in its handling of sex and sexuality but watching it now it just seems like a sexual roadtrip movie with people that I honestly can't stand. Ok, maybe that's a bit unfair but I just didn't connect with the two younger male characters; I found them obnoxious and, maybe you're supposed to - but it kept me from really wanting to watch this movie further. I just didn't connect with it.


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Amélie (2001)

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I wanted to watch something bright, happy, sweet, and romantic, and that's exactly what this is. I haven't seen since I saw it in the theater and I think I found it even more charming this time around. I love Jean-Pierre Jeunet and now I want to re-watch Delicatessen.

4.75/5.


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Dead Hooker in a Trunk (2009)

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Eh - I wanted to like this one. I want the Soska Sisters to be successful, but I don't think that this is my genre. Also, it suffers a bit from its low budget; the acting isn't great and I don't think that they made a very good case for not going to the cops about THE FRIGGIN DEAD HOOKER IN THE TRUNK. I couldn't suspend my disbelief on that.

Unfortunately didn't work for me but I hope the Soska Sisters continue to produce movies and improve on their work.

I've heard nothing but bad things about this ..

but apparently they turned it around with American Mary

Yeah, I didn't want to crap on it because I realize that it's low-budget, but I just didn't think it was very good at all - The acting and writing were REALLY lacking.

I thought that American Mary was good - I was a little disappointed only because of the hype (I was expecting it to shock me more), but Missmacabre has an interesting take on it here (which made me respect the movie more):

http://horror.com/forum/showthread.php?t=63401&page=2

"Dead In Tombstone" (2013)
-Danny Trejo, Dina Meyer, Anthony Michael Hall, Mickey Rourke

Plot: IMDB
A gang overruns a small mining town murdering their own leader Guerrero in a cold blooded power grab.Sentenced to an eternity in hell he finds himself confronted by Satan himself offering a daring proposition: deliver the six souls of his former gang and he will escape damnation. With time running out, he sets out on a brutal rampage to avenge his own death.

Phantoms Review: As I've said in earlier posts, I love Western movies, along with Horror, it's my favorite genre, and whenever these two meet I'm interested, sadly, though , most of the hybrids are ...well...crap.
Surprisingly, " Dead In Tombstone" is actually pretty decent. While it's obviously done on a low budget, it's well acted, has plenty of bloody action and a good ( if very simple) plot.
Dina Meyer is drop dead gorgeous, Danny Trejo is tough and scary looking and Anthony Michael Hall makes for a good villain. Mickey Rourke is virtually unrecognizable as the devil because ( to be blunt) he's gotten so fat.
If your not expecting too much, it's a fun movie.

"Tyrannosaur" 7/10

Noticed this title on Netflix and saw that Peter Mullan (Session 9) was starring it,
so decided to give it a try.
And of course... he was terrific. But he was still topped by an outstanding performance from Olivia Colman (Hot Fuzz).

It's a slow, sad and gritty story that starts out with Mullan killing his own dog in rage. Yea, real nice fellow. By the end of the movie you believe all men in britain are crazy assholes.

Just too slow in places.



"The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" 7-8/10

Yes, this was a good watch. Loved the daydreaming scenes, which were nicely made.
But for me the best and funniest part of the movie took place in New York. As soon as Ben Stiller started travelling around the world the daydreaming more or less stopped and the movie became slower and less funny. Sure, there were some beautiful sceneries, but his crush and his asshole boss (Adam Scott was a delight to watch in that role) were still in New York and that was too bad. I would've liked to see more of them. Wish he had brought them with him on his journey.

But Ben Stiller was actually pretty funny in this flick and Kristen Wiig was god damn hot!

I loved Tyrannosaur - terrific debut for Paddy Considine as a director. Reminded me a little bit of Shane Meadows stuff but I though it better done than most of his films (though I am a big SM fan).

You should check out Neds too... Directed by Peter Mullan, set in 1970s Scotland. He only plays a small role, but I think you'd probably appreciate it.

I sure will. It sounds good. Thanks!

Stoker (2013).



I was really looking forward to this one, which means expectations were high. I did enjoy it quite a bit, but there are no "WTF just happened" moments, like in other Park Chan-Wook films. As every reviewer likes to say, it's Hitchcockian (duh, being loosely based on a Hitchcock story -- but it's true, many Hitchcockian film techniques were used), and a bit of a slow burn. It's a little weird to see such an original director show so much influence, especially when Hitchcock isn't an obvious influence in his other films. It almost feels like an experiment, but a successful one in the end.

The story diverges quite a bit from Shadow of a Doubt, and in gut-twisting ways, fitting for Park. His stamp is definitely on the final product. Solid film. Good story and execution all around. It's no Oldboy, but recommended nonetheless.

8/10

There is a film called Small Faces which is very similar to Neds but I thought it was much better. Kevin McKidd is in it.

Star Trek Into Darkness

I don't care what they say, I miss the colon.

I remember being very satisfied with this picture in the cinema. I enjoyed the nods to the classic fans that were clear but not obtrusive, I continued to enjoy the casting from the 2009 film, I don't even mind the lens flare.

Second time round, less enthusiastic. Plot holes were more apparent, the casual misogyny a little uncomfortable.

7/10

Stuart: A Life Backwards (2007)

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I dunno how this flew under my radar for so long. Fantastic film about a writer (played by Sherlock Holmes) who comes across a violent, alcoholic homeless man (portrayed wonderfully by Bane) and decides to write his life story.

It sounds familiar, think I've seen it but not sure, either way I'll have to give it a watch.

"Neds" 7-8/10

Thank god for subtitles coz i didn't understand a word there was said in this movie besides "fuck".

But except for the weird english this was a good and entertaining flick with solid performances.

Thanks for the rec, Straker.




"The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug" 6/10

It's funny, coz The Lord of the Rings trilogy are some of the best movies i've ever seen. I really don't feel the same about The Hobbit.

Maybe it's the story that really isn't that exciting. Maybe it's because we get 3 movies out of a not very thick book and we therefore get some overly unnecessarily long scenes. Maybe it's the lack of interesting characters or maybe it's the outrageous action scenes that would be more fitting in a cartoon movie. For crying out loud, all the dwarves and the hobbit should've all been killed at least 3 times during this movie, wich makes it at least 6 times if we include the first movie. Or at least just have 1 god damn dwarf take a dirt nap, to make it just a tiny bit realistic.

No, I will never become a fan of this trilogy. Too much Peter Jacksons King Kong for my taste.




"The Hidden Face" 8/10

In my search for Small Faces (or was it Jug Face?) i stumbled upon this flick on Netflix. Both title and cover was creepy, so had to give it a try.
For the first 25 minutes i thought i was watching a spanish ripoff of What Lies Beneath. But noooo... There's quite a twist early on in the movie you don't see coming, which makes the story quite riveting all the way through.

Roshiq, if you haven't seen it. See it.

Sweet, always looking for a good Netflix rec. Thanks for sharing.

Another one, worth a watch (though not as good) is The Wee Man (2013) about career criminal, Paul Ferris. And of course there is the classic, A Sense of Freedom from the 70's about the notorious Jimmy Boyle.

"The Truth About Emanuel" 7-8/10


This could've been one creepy movie. Too bad the director decided to make it a drama instead, coz it had this scene, this turning point, that made the hair stand up on the back of my neck. That baby....brrrrrr. That COULD've been the beginning of a creepfest.

Nevertheless, it was still a good movie with an interesting story, good performances and one very excentric main character. Well, some would call her excentric, others a complete bitch.

Little Otik (2001)

Interesting Czech fantasy/horror movie. It reminded me a little bit of that "Timothy Green" movie meets "Grace". The real highlight for me was the stop-motion animation sequences, which made baby Otik seem all the freakish.

Kill Katie Malone

a no name ghost story starring Dean Cain - who seems to have been relegated to low budget horror since his lois and clark days (which I've never seen)

it was kind of ok - until characters started acting as if the precious scene hadn't taken place. just bad continuity writing ..

otherwise - it could have been passable

Just saw Stoker. Disliked it, but may have been because I was expecting a horror movie. This was not a horror movie but art house drama/thriller. If that is your thing, I recommend Stoker!

"Open Graves" 4/10

A semi-low budget horror version of Jumanji. Sounds pretty cool, right? Yea. Too bad it suked.

Earth Girls Are Easy - watched it with my kid.

It hasn't aged well but Geena Davis is glory to look at.


The Goodbye Girl - remake with Jeff Daniels

not bad at all … strong cast

"Would You Rather" 7-8/10

I liked this one. "Saw" light.
Jeffrey Combs was great as the jolly sadistic host and gamemaster.

Only question left when the credits started to roll was, what DID he do??

My Week With Marilyn

Not bad. I thought Michelle Williams did a pretty good job at playing Marilyn Monroe.

Also watched Paranormal Activity 4

Ninja

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This won't appeal to everyone but I had a blast with it. Plays like it's straight outta 1985. Non stop action with some really well staged fight scenes and a endless supply of goofy henchmen getting their asses kicked. If you're a fan of Sam Firstenberg's Ninja films of the 80s you'll love this one as much as I did.

Wolf of Wall Street

pure Scorsese

the guy knows how to tell a story...and newcomer Margot Robbie...oy vey

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"The Nun" 4/10

To my surprise the scenes with the ghost nun were actually quite good. Too bad these few scenes came in a package consisting of boring story, boring dialogue, boring characters and bad acting.

True Adolescents

Excellent indie drama/comedy with a great cast. I've always enjoyed films that are a slice of the character's life and don't perhaps have a traditional closure. Liked the character of Sam as I could kinda relate to him and thought the coming of age side of the story was well done and took a few different turns than usual.

Tower Block - The residents of an almost deserted tower block are targeted by a sniper.This was disappointing,the tone was rather uneven,the characters were a collection of lazy stereotypes prone to making extremely poor decisions and the plot is riddled with holes. 4/10

The Squad - A squad of Columbian soldiers are sent to investigate when contact is lost with an isolated army base.This initially does a good job of building mood,but after a promising opening nothing much happens,at least not enough to keep me interested. 5/10

V/H/S 2 - I enjoyed this for the most part,as with its predecessor the quality of both the stories and acting varies,that said I found it all watchable.The standout sections for me were "Safe Haven" and "A Ride in the Park".A Ride in the Park offers an unusual POV of a zombie outbreak,which worked really well for me.Safe Haven features an Indonisian documentary film crew who visit a cult commune to interview it's oddball leader.All hell breaks loose shortly after the film crew arrive as the true nature of the cult is revealed.Boasting some genuinely unsettling scenes and gruesome images,this was my clear favourite,although it was almost derailed right at the end by a dodgy looking goat ! 7/10

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If you revere your Rockys and Raging Bulls, don't bother with this unless you want a heart attack. If otherwise, you can watch it for the cheesy time-pass it is, loaded with nostalgia galore.

* * ½

Glad you liked the movie, EC! The Hipster in the Woods really cracked me up. ::wink:: There were some genuine Feels there, too.


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The Barrens (2012)

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baaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahahahaha - So, this might not be a good movie, but in some ways it's AWESOME.

So.

The story here is that Vampire Bill, who is inexplicably from England (I mean, if you're going to make him FROM somewhere, why not FROM Australia, so that he doesn't have to put on another ridiculous accent??), is taking his family camping in New Jersey. Where there may or may not be the Jersey Devil killing things. Or Vampire Bill may or may not be killing things. OR something entirely different may or may not be killing things...

SPOILER ALERT. The answer is all of the above. This movie involves rabies (YES, Vampire Bill has been killing things because he has RABIES) and a puma - Which really only serves as a red herring because THERE IS ALSO THE JERSEY DEVIL.

:shocked:

It was one of those movies that was so poorly constructed but yet I couldn't look away because I really wanted to know WHO IS KILLING ALL OF THE CAMPERS??? All of the above. Rabies, a puma, AND the Jersey Devil.

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::roll eyes::


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Casting By (2012)

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Really well-done and interesting HBO documentary about the business of Casting and one Casting director in particular, Marion Dougherty. It's fascinating to see what a pivotal role the Casting Director plays in a movie and how that role has received very little recognition.

Definitely recommended, especially if you're interested in the behind-the-scenes view of Hollywood and movie-making.

yeah - it was pretty awful, just watched it a couple of weeks ago...


definitely interested in seeing this

You know he's British, right?

LOL - Really? I thought he was Australian.