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Last seen...

In theaters: Sherlock Holmes. The relationship between Holmes and Watson was fun. Rachel McAdams, however, was very underwhelming as Irene Adler.

We saw Sherlock Holmes last week, thoroughly enjoyed it, I thought McAdams improved as the film progressed. I've read a lot of criticism of her in the role, and now you say "underwhelming"...actually I sort of agree, but otoh, she shouldn't be strong enough in the part to undercut Holmes/Watson. They were the main attraction this time around. Maybe the sequel will have a different slant, considering the opening at the end of this one regarding Moriarty.

The day the Earth Stood Still. The new version. It sucks. Original way better despite no special effects.

Loved, loved, Loved the original, Michael Rennie version.
Have absolutely no desire to see the so-called remake.
 
I saw "The Book of Eli" last night. It wasn't too bad. I went in with low expectations and I was sort pleased with the movie. It had a strong christian religious theme without being super preachy. The action scenes were well done, and the whole thing looked very cool, some good humor, etc......
Drawbacks: It required some serious suspension of belief on several levels and the ending was sort of unclear to me. I think I completely missed the important facet at the end of the movie. If anyone sees it, let me know what happened.
 
The Strawberry Statement ~ great film depicting a protest at some San Francisco college. Came out in 1970, so making this flick at the height of the Vietnam War era protests must've been wild.

I've been waiting years and years to see it and TCM finally showed it the other nite.

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House of the Devil.

Now, this was an interesting movie. A pretty typical 70s/early 80s horror film about a college girl stumbling onto a satanist cult, with a slow, atmospheric build-up that runs completely counter to the slasher films that were just starting to take over the genre back then, not to mention the 30 years of parody, deconstruction and post-ironic gorefests the genre has gone through since... except the film was made in 2009.

Basic story: our college student heroine answers an ad for a babysitter. Turns out the guy behind it is a bit odd and lives in a big house some miles outside town, and the job he has for her isn't exactly what the ad offered, but she needs the money and so she accepts... and so now she's alone in that big creepy house with the person she's supposed to be watching.

As a period piece, it really is almost flawless; not only is the film clearly set back then, but it all looks like it was made then too. The entire film has a chilly, washed-out-coloured atmosphere that echoes The Exorcist and Dead Zone, with long tracking shots, no quick-style cutting, very little special effects, long periods of near-silence so that the slightest noise makes you jump - looking to be consistently creepy (up until the finale) rather than shocking. Even the opening credits look 70s-ish. You might say it gets right the same things that The Strangers got right for its first half and then milks that for most of the film. Which is both its great strength and its great weakness; apart from one huge and very quick "Did that just happen?" moment, nothing very horriffic even happens up until well over an hour into the 90-minute film - up until then, it's mostly just a girl walking around in a big creepy house owned by creepy people (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov), scaring herself occasionally, and our increasing sense of dread is as much due to what doesn't happen; we know it's a horror film, there are lots of little touches telling us it's a horror film, it's so consistently serious that we know something really really bad is going to happen, and every minute the film skirts around it just adds to the creepiness. Or alternately, bores you stiff, depending on your mood and desire for quick gratification, I suppose. But don't worry, it really tries to compensate in the end.

House of the Devil is almost ridiculously slow. It's a deliberate throwback to such an extent that I'm not sure if I'm supposed to love it for being like nothing else made today or shrug it off as merely a good recreation. Except it's too creepy to do the latter. In the end, it's not a great 70s/early 80s movie about satanic cults. It's no Rosemary's Baby, The Beyond, or Omen. It is, however, a good one. :star3:+ or :star4:-.
 
Last night watched movie Lakeview Terrace. Was an okay movie until the end. However, it had one of the stupidest endings I have ever seen. It was like guy was writing script and boss says, "hurry up and finish the script, we have lunch in 2 minutes." It made no sense whatsoever.
 
House of the Devil.

Now, this was an interesting movie. A pretty typical 70s/early 80s horror film about a college girl stumbling onto a satanist cult, with a slow, atmospheric build-up that runs completely counter to the slasher films that were just starting to take over the genre back then, not to mention the 30 years of parody, deconstruction and post-ironic gorefests the genre has gone through since... except the film was made in 2009.

Basic story: our college student heroine answers an ad for a babysitter. Turns out the guy behind it is a bit odd and lives in a big house some miles outside town, and the job he has for her isn't exactly what the ad offered, but she needs the money and so she accepts... and so now she's alone in that big creepy house with the person she's supposed to be watching.

As a period piece, it really is almost flawless; not only is the film clearly set back then, but it all looks like it was made then too. The entire film has a chilly, washed-out-coloured atmosphere that echoes The Exorcist and Dead Zone, with long tracking shots, no quick-style cutting, very little special effects, long periods of near-silence so that the slightest noise makes you jump - looking to be consistently creepy (up until the finale) rather than shocking. Even the opening credits look 70s-ish. You might say it gets right the same things that The Strangers got right for its first half and then milks that for most of the film. Which is both its great strength and its great weakness; apart from one huge and very quick "Did that just happen?" moment, nothing very horriffic even happens up until well over an hour into the 90-minute film - up until then, it's mostly just a girl walking around in a big creepy house owned by creepy people (Tom Noonan and Mary Woronov), scaring herself occasionally, and our increasing sense of dread is as much due to what doesn't happen; we know it's a horror film, there are lots of little touches telling us it's a horror film, it's so consistently serious that we know something really really bad is going to happen, and every minute the film skirts around it just adds to the creepiness. Or alternately, bores you stiff, depending on your mood and desire for quick gratification, I suppose. But don't worry, it really tries to compensate in the end.

House of the Devil is almost ridiculously slow. It's a deliberate throwback to such an extent that I'm not sure if I'm supposed to love it for being like nothing else made today or shrug it off as merely a good recreation. Except it's too creepy to do the latter. In the end, it's not a great 70s/early 80s movie about satanic cults. It's no Rosemary's Baby, The Beyond, or Omen. It is, however, a good one. :star3:+ or :star4:-.
This one sounds right up my alley, just added it to my netflix q, thanks!
 
(500) Days of Summer. Thankfully not as forced and silly as Juno ended up being. The story was funny, sweet and creatively told. And as a fan of early alternative I appreciated hearing songs from The Smiths and Pixies.
 
Yesterday, I watched two revenge movies in which the revenge part
didn't go so well.

Oldboy -- FINALLY got to see this. Netflix's instant play chose a dubbed version instead of a subtitled version (which isn't always so great) and from what I've heard, I think what I saw was very edited. It was not terribly violent or graphic. Although you knew (or suspected) the whole time that
the sushi chef was his daughter
, that really didn't matter. It was seeing the outcome that did.
I liked all the
hypnosis stuff; and also seein Dae-su go from a babbling, pathetic loser, to a bad ass, and then back to this babbling pathetic loser once again.
:star4:

Princess -- 2006 Danish animated film.
A missionary priest comes home after the death of his porn-star sister to take care of his 5-yr-old niece and to seek revenge.
80% animation, 20% live-action. The film is dark and f'ed up. It reads very anti-porn. See for yourself.
:star4:
 
House of the Devil ~ nicely detailed throwback horror. Even down to the font on the titles, it looked like an early 80's flick. I can see how the slow burn/buildup would put modern audiences off. I love that their releasing this in a dvd/vhs combo.
:star3:

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Aimée & Jaguar
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Based on the memoirs of Lilly Wust, this is the story of two women who fall in love in 1943 Berlin. Lilly, the wife of a Nazi officer, and Felice, a Jewish journalist.
Maria Schrader who plays Felice is absolutely stunning.
Beautiful movie.
:star4:.5
 
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