The Zone

by **Al Shut** on Wed May 02, 2012 1:25 pm

All in all a pretty good month, if I stopped watching movies now I'd still end up with an yearly average of over one new move per week.

Favourite movie in April:
Coraline followed very closely by Rusalka (absolutely loved the music). I'm a total sucker for those kind of movies, very pleased to hear that Selick is working on another Gaiman adaptation.

Worst:
The Wolfman. Maybe actually not as bad, boring or nonsensical (not sure about that part) as Percy Jackson but I really didn't like the ending, see jounal for comment

by **bill blake** on Wed May 09, 2012 2:45 am

i'm seeing a trend developing on my movie journal. i apologize to all of you movie hounds especially the ones who post their monthly summaries religously. i'm getting tons of data and enjoying the reads. thank you. that being said...

rare exports is one of the best christmas movies i've ever seen and boogie nights is an american classic.

so i guess if you're only going to see four movies a month, make sure half of them allow you to use a superlative if you want to add words to a movie journal monthly summary.

by **so sorry** on Wed May 09, 2012 9:04 am

bill blake wrote:\rare exports is one of the best christmas movies i've ever seen and boogie nights is an american classic.

so i guess if you're only going to see four movies a month, make sure half of them allow you to use a superlative if you want to add words to a movie journal monthly summary.

I think the more important takeaway is if you are only going to see four movies a month make sure one of them involves porn.

by **Peven** on Wed May 09, 2012 9:31 am

if you think "Boogie Nights" is porn then you don't know what porn is.....

by **Spandau Belly** on Wed May 09, 2012 4:21 pm

Well, I saw CALIGULA last month so I think that makes me the winner because it is both porn and a real movie (maybe the only movie that truly qualifies as both).

I now imitate the way Malcolm McDowell hollers out "Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!" with the thumbs up after Helen Mirren's half-assed dance routine.

Honestly, I can't believe people used to watch porn in cinemas. Seeing a closeup of a twat blown up to a whole movie screen was fucking frightening.

by **DerLanghaarige** on Fri Jun 01, 2012 6:02 am

Best movie of May was for me without a doubt The Raid. So badass and full of awesomness, I can't believe that this movie really exists.

Worst movie was the snooze fest, better known as Red Dawn. Maybe I had to be there when it came out.

Most underrated movie was Dark Shadows. I guess people expected a light hearted comedy from the trailer.

Biggest surprise was Grown Ups. It was nothing special, but really entertained me and was surprisingly touching at times.

by **Spandau Belly** on Fri Jun 01, 2012 7:29 am

Spandau's May

Best of May: BULLETPROOF (1988)
I believe my quest for the ultimate 80s b-movie has perhaps come to an end. This 1988 Gary Busey star-vehicle sees the world's greatest actor in the role of Bulletproof McBain, a saxophone-playing speedreading lady's man former special forces operative turned street cop turned back into a special forces operative. He gets shot lots and extracts the bullets from his wounds himself and keeps them in a little cup in his bathroom. This film really is a sight to behond.

THE HUNTER (2011)
This was the best high-brow type of film I saw this month. It's a good masculine thriller with solid emotional parts like REDBELT. It keeps its focus on Willem Dafoe's hunt for the last Tasmanian tiger while effectively building up tension among the characters.

Worst of May: FREEWAY
This is another one of those shock-value 90s crime movies that is constantly trying really hard to be offbeat, quirky and offensive. If here in 2012 you think TRUE ROMANCE and THE DOOM GENERATION are great films and still watch stuff like that regularly, then you probably love this. I was never really into that stuff at the time and find it hasn't aged well. The film is a modernization of the German fairytale Little Red Riding Hood, and it casts Kiefer Sutherland as a motorway serial killer and Reese Whitherspoon as his prey. Whenever Sutherland and Whitherspoon are interacting it's a fairly entertaining movie, but whenever these characters aren't interacting the movie goes flat and loses momentum wasting time with side characters that the writer-director obviously thinks are entertaining. I will give it points for actuall sticking to its adaptation and having Kiefer dress up like Reese's grandma, hide in her bed, and then having the climactic fight scene with Kiefer dressed as an old lady. It's not terrible, but I felt like I wasted my time watching it.

by **Al Shut** on Fri Jun 01, 2012 11:59 am

DerLanghaarige wrote:
#00049 Red Dawn (DVD/1st Time Viewing)
[...]
I love the mentioning of the German Green Party in the opening scroll, though.

Agreed although I thought that was even more hilarious while the Greens were actually in power.

My favourite in May was either Hoodwinked! or Kirikou et les bêtes sauvages (unfortunately not as good as the first Kirikuo movie but still worthwhile)

Least favourite was Jonathan, weird German vampire movie from the 70's which I'm pretty sure (but not entirely since I was very tired) made not much sense.

by **bill blake** on Tue Jun 05, 2012 1:33 am

doubled my intake!

the best
"into the abyss" followed by "dear zachary" was an disturbing dive into murder. i still find myself shaking my head in disbelief when i think about "dear zachary".

the worst
"drive" was a big disappointment.

i find it interesting only 3 posters went to see "the avengers".

by **Spandau Belly** on Tue Jun 05, 2012 7:31 am

bill blake wrote:i find it interesting only 3 posters went to see "the avengers".

I'm not a big superhero fan and as far as this series goes, I've only seen the two IRON MAN movies. Thought the first one was okay, thought the second one was terrible. I was half-interested in seeing THE AVENGERS, but it's only showing in 3D where I live and that reduced my half-interest by half. I figure I'll catch it on an airplane or something.

by **so sorry** on Tue Jun 05, 2012 10:12 am

Spandau Belly wrote:
bill blake wrote:i find it interesting only 3 posters went to see "the avengers".

I'm not a big superhero fan and as far as this series goes, I've only seen the two IRON MAN movies. Thought the first one was okay, thought the second one was terrible. I was half-interested in seeing THE AVENGERS, but it's only showing in 3D where I live and that reduced my half-interest by half. I figure I'll catch it on an airplane or something.

I'm sure more than three Zoners have seen The Avengers. There are only a few (I think) that keep their movie journals up to date...

by **Al Shut** on Tue Jun 05, 2012 11:26 am

Looking closely it's a tie

4:4

Counting robos multiple viewing s just once

edit - for the record Avengers is on my list of dvds I might buy when they are new, before they get cheap

by **Nachokoolaid** on Mon Jun 18, 2012 12:39 am

Just saw that flick ACT OF VALOR with all the real Navy seals instead of actors. It really wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. One thing I really appreciated was how technical it was in tactics and equipment. I think that was the strength of the film. It also had some pretty great "1st person" shots. I thought that more films, especially with a lot of gun play, wouldn't hurt themselves by having more of these types of shots.

by **justcheckin** on Sat Jun 30, 2012 9:08 am

so sorry wrote:
Spandau Belly wrote:
bill blake wrote:i find it interesting only 3 posters went to see "the avengers".

I'm not a big superhero fan and as far as this series goes, I've only seen the two IRON MAN movies. Thought the first one was okay, thought the second one was terrible. I was half-interested in seeing THE AVENGERS, but it's only showing in 3D where I live and that reduced my half-interest by half. I figure I'll catch it on an airplane or something.

I'm sure more than three Zoners have seen The Avengers. There are only a few (I think) that keep their movie journals up to date...

I have been super busy and I wanted to go but just haven't committed the time to it. This is probably going to be the first year that I don't get close to 100 new movies. I haven't seen the Hulk or the Ironman movies either. I would agree though that more people have seen it than have posted.

by **Al Shut** on Sun Jul 01, 2012 11:26 am

Halfway through the year I looked back and changed the rankings of some movies.

The EURO kept me from seeing a lot of things in June

Favorite was Drag ME to Hell, despite the ending being not as surprising as the movie would hope.

Worst was Tekken. I've never been a big Tekken player. I don't recall any story or even a certain atmosphere or mood that a movie would have to capture so good action ofr fight scenes could very well have recuede this movie. But there were none.

by **Spandau Belly** on Sun Jul 01, 2012 12:09 pm

Spandau reflects on June

This was a nice month at the movies. I got to see the first two Indiana Jones movies in the cinema, which was a really nice treat. I had only ever seen them on home video. Most of the movies I saw for the first time I would consider to be good.

Best new view of June: JIRO DREAMS OF SUSHI is a really engaging documentary about the world's greatest sushimaker. He's a tough old goat, but likeable. I enjoyed this film despite not being a big sushi maniac. It's a fascinating portrait of perfectionism and full of humourous moments and fun learning.

Worst new view of June: I watched SILVER BULLET for our Oleg Movie Club's salute to the films of Gary Busey. Although there's nothing really wrong with this movie, I was bored almost the entire time. It's one of those movies that sounds like it would be great on paper but then it just goes the other direction. You'd think a movie where a drunken Gary Busey builds suped-up wheelchairs for his crippled nephew and they fight a werewolf priest would be the awesomest b-movie ever, but it's just never played for pulpy enough thrills.

Towering disappointment of June: I don't think I could reflect on June 2012 without shedding a tear for the movie PROMETHEUS should have and could have been. It's pretty, the actors are good, there's some neat ideas, some entertaining sequences, but what a clusterfuck.

by **DerLanghaarige** on Sun Jul 01, 2012 4:56 pm

Spandau Belly wrote:I watched SILVER BULLET for our Oleg Movie Club's salute to the films of Gary Busey. Although there's nothing really wrong with this movie, I was bored almost the entire time. It's one of those movies that sounds like it would be great on paper but then it just goes the other direction. You'd think a movie where a drunken Gary Busey builds suped-up wheelchairs for his crippled nephew and they fight a werewolf priest would be the awesomest b-movie ever, but it's just never played for pulpy enough thrills.

I think its biggest flaw is that it wasn't made for TV. Because if it would have been an 80's TV movie instead of a theatrical production, its real flaws would have been easier to overlook. (I still seem to like it more than you did.)

Anyway, for me was nothing really THAT outstanding this month. Although I would say that the best movie was THE LOVELY BONES. Worst movie was without a doubt the TEXAS CHAINSAW REMAKE, apart from that I was really surprised how depressing BRIDESMAIDS was and how much I enjoyed CARS 2 and the FRIGHT NIGHT remake, even though I doubt that they have a high re-watch value.

by **Bloo** on Sun Jul 01, 2012 5:50 pm

I didn't keep up with my journal this month, but hands down the worst movie I saw was the abortion known as ROCK OF AGES. tom Cruise is good, there is no doubt about that, but god the moie around him blew monkey chunks

by **justcheckin** on Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:28 pm

Bloo wrote:I didn't keep up with my journal this month, but hands down the worst movie I saw was the abortion known as ROCK OF AGES. tom Cruise is good, there is no doubt about that, but god the moie around him blew monkey chunks

Thanks... that movie just moved to a rental spot.

by **Bloo** on Sun Jul 01, 2012 6:38 pm

justcheckin wrote:
Bloo wrote:I didn't keep up with my journal this month, but hands down the worst movie I saw was the abortion known as ROCK OF AGES. tom Cruise is good, there is no doubt about that, but god the moie around him blew monkey chunks

Thanks... that movie just moved to a rental spot.

make it a "rental" as in the free kind you find on the internet with a torrant

by **BuckyO'harre** on Sun Jul 01, 2012 10:43 pm

It seems unfair to declare any "Best of"s with my journal since I'm crossing off so many "List of Shame" films that are already regarded as classics.
"Bicycle Thieves is pretty good,huh? No foolin'..."
So instead I'll throw some attention on the slightly more obscure titles.

The League of Gentlemen- Okay,so the Brits are probably familiar with this one. It's one of those darkly-comic crime films along the same line as "The Ladykillers" and "The Lavender Hill Mob". Which means it has a great cast-- Jack Hawkins, Roger Livesey, Richard Attenborough, Nigel Patrick, and um, that guy Sean Connery beats up in "Darby O'Gill and the Little People".

The Strange Case of the End of Civilization as We Know It- Short spoof of mystery films with John Cleese as the grandson of Sherlock Holmes. It's sophomoric and off-color yet still one of the funniest damn things I've seen this year. I will also take this opportunity to nominate Joss Ackland for best film president.

Mackenna's Gold- By no means great, but you can see glimpses of what could have been an epic Western. Gregory Peck, Omar Sharif, Julie Newmar, Ted "Lurch" Cassidy, and Telly Savalas star in this search for a canyon of gold guarded by Apache spirits. Originally planned to be three hours long, but was cut down to just over two. This is an absolute crime because it pretty much erases the supporting cast of Edward G. Robinson, Burgess Meredith, Eli Wallach, Lee J. Cobb, Raymond Massey, and Keenan Wynn. Though on the bright side they did leave room for Julie Newmar's skinny dipping and ass-shot. George Lucas was observing and helping out on the set while he was in film school, and he clearly borrowed some elements of this flick for the Indy films. The quality of the visuals runs back and forth between extremes. You have the highs: POV riding-action camera work (that sounds like porn terminology but you'll understand if you watch it), full scale canyon demolition, and the lows: piss poor blue screening of the leads on horseback, laughable miniature work, etc. An interesting mixed bag overall.

by **bill blake** on Mon Jul 09, 2012 2:18 am

three "new" releases this month.

the best - "the dictator" - so many funny jokes. imho, his humor is so much better when it isn't at the expense of real people.

the worst - "dark shadows" - it might have been funnier, had i not seen it immediately after "the dictator". the story was so weak though, and the production design (save for the costumes) seemed phoned in compared to other burtonian creations.

the question mark - "prometheus" - i can't quit thinking about the opening sequence. i'm also meditating on where this movie stands in the "alien" mythology. i can't get past the whole technology thing, and the characters were cookie cutter.

on a personal note: i was dicking around on youtube and found "the royal tenenbaums" in its entirety in crystal clear hd. i feel bad because it seems that wes anderson is getting ripped off, but i really enjoyed the experience. that's all.

by **justcheckin** on Mon Jul 09, 2012 8:58 am

bill blake wrote:
the worst - "dark shadows" - it might have been funnier, had i not seen it immediately after "the dictator". the story was so weak though, and the production design (save for the costumes) seemed phoned in compared to other burtonian creations.

so, have you ever watched the original or the newer Dark Shadows tv shows? They were serious versions and I wanted to see how the comedy in the movie related to the shows but haven't had time to go see it. You have a take on that?

by **bill blake** on Mon Jul 09, 2012 12:50 pm

justcheckin wrote:
bill blake wrote:
the worst - "dark shadows" - it might have been funnier, had i not seen it immediately after "the dictator". the story was so weak though, and the production design (save for the costumes) seemed phoned in compared to other burtonian creations.

so, have you ever watched the original or the newer Dark Shadows tv shows? They were serious versions and I wanted to see how the comedy in the movie related to the shows but haven't had time to go see it. You have a take on that?

i watched the original "dark shadows". i think the only way the comedy related to the original was in the way depp played collins. that may make it worth seeing. unfortunately, my perspective had been tainted by sacha baron cohen.

by **justcheckin** on Mon Jul 09, 2012 3:02 pm

bill blake wrote:
justcheckin wrote:
bill blake wrote:
the worst - "dark shadows" - it might have been funnier, had i not seen it immediately after "the dictator". the story was so weak though, and the production design (save for the costumes) seemed phoned in compared to other burtonian creations.

so, have you ever watched the original or the newer Dark Shadows tv shows? They were serious versions and I wanted to see how the comedy in the movie related to the shows but haven't had time to go see it. You have a take on that?

i watched the original "dark shadows". i think the only way the comedy related to the original was in the way depp played collins. that may make it worth seeing. unfortunately, my perspective had been tainted by sacha baron cohen.

Ha, yeah.. well I suppose you should watch 2 comedies in a row.

I have only seen some of the original Dark Shadows from the 60s and I saw the one from the 90s. The 90s one is super corny that takes itself serious.
Thanks for the reviews.

by **Spandau Belly** on Wed Aug 01, 2012 7:14 am

Spandau reflects upon July

Well the summer of stink continued. The jury is still out for me as to whether Ridley Scott or Christopher Nolan made the more bloated, moronic, poorly written waste of money this year. But despite being let down by the heavy hitters, I still had a nice time at the movies this month. I watched fewer new movies this month than any other month this year, mostly revisiting some fun old movies, including getting to see THE GODFATHER in the cinema for the first time. I haven't watched that movie in several homevideo generations. I had the VHS when I was a kid, but haven't watched those movies since VHS died out. It held up perfectly, still a masterpiece of cinema. I will have to revisit the second one sometime soon, although I will probably leave the third one in my distant memory.

Best new view of July: GET THE GRINGO
This is Mel Gibson's DTV prison gangster comedy. It is verymuch in the spirit of the theatrical cut of PAYBACK. A well built story with lotsa funny moments and Mel's still got it as an actor in these types of roles.

Worst new view of July: DESTORYER (1988)
This is a pretty inept slasher movie. Strangely, it tricked me into giving more credit than it deserved up until it ended. The way the film was about a movie within a movie and the use of dream sequence had me guessing it was going to go full PERFECT BLUE in its final act and reality would just keep folding back on itself. I thought it was going to turn into a movie within a movie within a dream within a movie within a dream or something. But no. It's just a stupid movie about a maniac killing actors. There are some funny moments, and slasher film goers have definately seen worse, but I don't recommend this one. The funniest part is what's got to be the biggest editing flub of all time: they put the scene of one character's death in the wrong spot, so she gets killed, then is alive again for a few more scenes, then they discover her body.

by **Al Shut** on Wed Aug 01, 2012 1:08 pm

My favorite in July was Bienvenue chez les Ch'tis, funny, hugely entertaining and with an excellent Germna dub.

Special mention goes to Welcome to the space show for the incredible rich and fantastic design of the alien world. At times it seemed like the bathhouse from Spirited Away²

Worst was At the Earth's Core which bored the living hell out of me.

by **BuckyO'harre** on Wed Aug 01, 2012 2:30 pm

Finally saw The 'Burbs which many of you enjoy so much. Good times. I would have watched it a lot sooner though, if any of you had mentioned that the other great voice of Gollum, Brother Theodore was in it.

One-eyed Jacks was decent, but disappointing considering what might have been. Kubrick and Peckinpah? Pity that combo didn't happen.

5 Card Stud: I watched this based on the lead cast- Dean Martin and Robert Mitchum- alone, hoping I could imagine it as an alternate movie universe where the two were fighting over who was really John Wayne's best friend. Alas, the story didn't really lend itself to that, and I remembered having seen the film years ago. But it was still entertaining and Roddy McDowall plays a great little shit of a villain.

by **Al Shut** on Wed Aug 01, 2012 3:06 pm

BuckyO'harre wrote:Finally saw The 'Burbs which many of you enjoy so much. Good times. I would have watched it a lot sooner though, if any of you had mentioned that the other great voice of Gollum, Brother Theodore was in it.

The Italo western close up on the dog kills me everytime.

by **DerLanghaarige** on Wed Aug 01, 2012 4:41 pm

Al Shut wrote:
BuckyO'harre wrote:Finally saw The 'Burbs which many of you enjoy so much. Good times. I would have watched it a lot sooner though, if any of you had mentioned that the other great voice of Gollum, Brother Theodore was in it.

The Italo western close up on the dog kills me everytime.

"Klopek. Is that Slavic?" "NO!"

by **caruso_stalker217** on Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:31 pm

Everyone should see THE 'BURBS. And love it.

"There go the goddamn brownies!"

by **bill blake** on Sun Aug 19, 2012 2:20 am

since august is almost over, i thought i'd do my july recap.

3 new releases - "the avengers", "magic mike", & "moonlight kingdom"! pretty good for a cheapskate, although i didn't pay for two of them.

i liked all three.

"the avengers" was fun. more fun than i expected, but not as fun as "magic mike" simply because of the wooderson redux. "moonlight kingdom" kind of creeped me out, but the overall creativity pulled me through the 10-year-olds' sex romp.

otherwise...

"the last waltz" is one of the finest concert film's ever made. if you haven't seen it let me just tell you, neil diamond & neil young in the same show. i kneel to this movie.

by **Spandau Belly** on Sat Aug 25, 2012 9:16 am

I am leaving for Sweden now, so the only movies I'll see for the rest of August will be shit they show on the airplane which will probably be some dull inoffensive wank like SALMON FISHING THE YEMEN or whatever, so I'll reflect on August now.

August

Best of August: TED
Funny movie. Best comedy I've seen in awhile. Marky Mark delivers a solid sincere performance and has good chemistry with a CGI bear.

Worst of August: THE SWARM
I kinda hoped this would be a disaster b-movie that was funny in the same way as THE HAPPENING. It wasn't. It might be one of the worst movies I've ever seen.

by **Al Shut** on Sat Aug 25, 2012 3:01 pm

Spandau Belly wrote:I am leaving for Sweden now

I hope this isn't some weird OLEG pilgrimage, that might be taking it a bit to far

by **Al Shut** on Sun Aug 26, 2012 11:28 am

DerLanghaarige wrote:
#00100 Pappa Ante Portas (TV/1st viewing)
Hilarity from Loriot, one of Germany's greatest humorists.

Seconded. Although the club meeting from 'Ödipussi' is one of my favourite scenes ever I think overall this one is even better.

by **Spandau Belly** on Fri Aug 31, 2012 7:16 am

Al Shut wrote:
Spandau Belly wrote:I am leaving for Sweden now

I hope this isn't some weird OLEG pilgrimage, that might be taking it a bit to far

No, but if I saw him, I would definitely shake his hand.

by **ironic name** on Sat Sep 01, 2012 12:58 am

Spandau Belly wrote:
Al Shut wrote:
Spandau Belly wrote:I am leaving for Sweden now

I hope this isn't some weird OLEG pilgrimage, that might be taking it a bit to far

No, but if I saw him, I would definitely shake his hand.

yeah right. 'hand.'

by **bill blake** on Sat Sep 01, 2012 2:38 am

i had a very productive month. yet, no new releases. still just a zoner wannabe.

this month was special because i was able to share some old favorites with my 16-year old.

"point break"
"glengarry glen ross"
"sexy beast"

although "sexy beast" is not that old it's still a favorite that has legs. i feel that all these movies have legs. i've watched them all multiple times and never get bored from begining to end.

lastly, "jiro dreams of sushi" is a meditation, and it's a must for anybody with a food passion.

by **Al Shut** on Sat Sep 01, 2012 2:49 pm

Nothing really interesting going on in August (and of course no new releases for me either)

Favourite was Salt (at least a movie from this decade), although I probably should have ranked it lower for not making much sense in retrospect.

Least favourite was Scooby-Doo! Abracadabra-Doo although it wasn't actually bad.

Olympics kept me from viewing a lot of things for the first half of the month but on average I can still be satisfied with the amount of movies I watched

by **Al Shut** on Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:15 am

Another month gone by

Favorite was Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows

Least favorite was Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time wich was just too plain dumb most of the time, starting with when the hero snuck into the enemy town, opend the gates just to suprise his own army.

by **DerLanghaarige** on Mon Oct 01, 2012 8:54 am

Again I didn't watch many movies.

Best one was Detention, which I expected to hate or at least not like but then totally fucking blew my mind.

Biggest surprise: Mars Needs Moms, which wasn't great or anything, but had way more depth and entertainment value than expected.

Worst: I don't know, either Real Steel or Nighthawks, but neither of them was really bad. They were just not really good either.

by **bill blake** on Tue Oct 02, 2012 1:53 am

september numbers show consistancy, but little movement.

"cloud atlas" and "samsara" provided indisputable proof for me that film can still influence perspective. both made me eager to press on through this life and beyond.

"indie game: the movie" is a beautiful tribute to an entrepenuerial spirit that is sorely neglected in western society. for a game lover like myself it's a fortitous peek at the man behind the curtain.

"sleepwalk with me" was a little less inspiring, but nonetheless a fine movie going experience.

i feel good.

by **Spandau Belly** on Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:32 am

bill blake wrote:"cloud atlas" and "samsara" provided indisputable proof for me that film can still influence perspective. both made me eager to press on through this life and beyond.

Really looking forward to both those films. SAMSARA opens here in a few weeks.

by **Spandau Belly** on Tue Oct 02, 2012 7:56 am

Spandau reflects on September

I can't say I really saw anything great or terrible this month. Mostly mediocre movies on the airplane while I was travelling.

BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW and KILLER JOE both had the potential to be great films, but both had a few too many mishandled aspects holding them back.

Best of September: THE MIDNIGHT MEAT TRAIN
This is a cool little b-movie with a neat original story. If they had got Nic Cage in the Bradley Cooper role, I would probably declare this a b-movie classic. The guy directing this has a good hand and knows what aspects to play for laughs. It's full of funny wonky horror moments such as when Bradley Cooper has gone missing and worried his girlfriend, and then he comes home bleeding all over the place with an occult symbol freshly carved across his chest and he just tries to brush by his girlfriend and go to bed like he doesn't want to talk about it.

Worst of September: either IN TIME or the TOTAL RECALL remake
They're prettymuch the same movie. This seems to be what 90% of sci-fi movies are in the last 20 years. 10 minutes of interesting ideas and then 90 minutes of chase sequences in which the hero and a beautiful woman outrun incompetant fascists with infinite resources. I don't have a problem with formulas, I just don't think I like this formula that much, or at least this formula rarely seems to inspire any filmmakers to inject any life into it.

by **bill blake** on Fri Nov 02, 2012 2:45 am

my father got sick and died this month. it was that fast. he was 69 and he died too young.

he took me to see "jaws" and "star wars" when i was a boy. the last movie we saw together in a theater was "the apostle".

we saw tons of movies together, but he really didn't care about film. he watched the movies men were supposed to like and ocassionally took his wife to the ones they weren't. movies were just a diversion.

his favorite was "evil roy slade".

he was freaked out by the bed horse head in "the godfather".

other than that, he rarely spoke of anything he'd ever seen.

yet he still was an influence on me.

i miss him.

thanks.

by **Spandau Belly** on Fri Nov 02, 2012 7:03 am

Sorry to hear about your father, Bill.

by **Spandau Belly** on Fri Nov 02, 2012 7:30 am

Spandau reflects on October

Was there ever such a month as October? Well, I probably watched more movies this month than any other month since I was a kid during summer holidays. This was a pretty great month. My local grindhouse got a good line-up of horror movies going for the Halloween season, so I got to enjoy the big screen treatment when revisiting some classics such as THE EXORCIST, THE SHINING, ALIEN and CREEPSHOW while also finally getting around to watching the first two TEXAS CHAINSAW MASSACRE films. I am too young to have seen any of those movies in the cinemas during their initial theatrical run, so it was fun to see them on the big screen.

I also have started gearing up for SKYFALL by revisiting Bond films in that fancy bluray set that just came out. I chose to start with ones that I don't watch as often. I remember not liking THE WORLD IS NOT ENOUGH at the time, but it grows on me more and more every time I watch it. I think I just got hung up how bad Richards is and how they under-use Begbie's supposedly super-strong henchman character. Elektra King is definately one of the better villains of the series. Also, MOONRAKER is hysterical. I don't watch that one very often, but I always like it when I do. It's probably the most overstuffed Bond film. They just jam so many exotic locales, stunts, women, and villains in this thing. The funniest is the part where Moore fights an Andy Sidaris plastic snake.

Worst new view of October: THE GIRL FROM THE NAKED EYE
I like DTV. I like noirist cinema. I like Sasha Grey. I figured a noirist DTV Sasha Grey movie would be totally my style. Aside from the fact that Sasha is only in it for less than a one minute cameo, this movie is just in that zone where it's too competant to be amusing cheese but not good enough to be actually good. It's mostly just boring. They rip off a lot of other stuff, and I'll give them credit, the part where they directly lift the corridor brawl from OLDBOY was done incredibly well.

Best new view of October: THE MASTER (2012)
PT Anderson delivers more big laughs with another movie full of grown men acting like lunatics and shouting lots. Hoffman and Phoenix go toe-to-toe with stellar performances that just keep every scene on fire. I found this film endlessly engrossing, amusing, and beautifully shot with memorable original characters and perfectly-built scenes.

The Golden Oleg for Red Oktober: KILL & KILL AGAIN
This was the best b-movie I saw all month. I bought it on a blind buy because it wasn't available for rent and the trailer had made me laugh hard. Hot dog! What a winner! This film is hysterical.

by **DerLanghaarige** on Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:09 am

October was a so-so month. Lots of stuff that was pretty good, but nothing that I downright loved. Out of the new ones I saw, I had the most fun with JOHN CARTER and TOWER HEIST, although CARTER definitely has the higher re-watch value.

And I found my most hated movie of the year in PROJECT X. It not just had zero laughs, but was all in all a love letter to how awesome and rewarding it is, to be an unsympathetic douchebag.

by **bill blake** on Fri Nov 02, 2012 10:52 am

Spandau Belly wrote:Sorry to hear about your father, Bill.

thank you.

btw, did you ever get to "samsara" or "cloud atlas"?

by **Spandau Belly** on Fri Nov 02, 2012 11:00 am

Yes, I saw SAMSARA last week. It was great. I wrote a review for it in 'What have you been watching: cinema' thread. I intend to see it again some time this month.

I haven't got around to CLOUD ATLAS yet. But I will probably see it later this month.