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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 1, 2012 23:12:28 GMT -5
New To Me 2, the rules:
1) Only movies we have never watched before or watched before turning six years old count. "Regular" movies are worth one point. 2) Documentaries count as one point. 3) Horror movies and horror documentaries count as two points. 4) Movies and documentaries must be at least one hour long. 5) Any Thanksgiving movie watched on Thanksgiving is worth three points, Thanksgiving Horror is worth four points. 6) Honor system at work. 7) Competition starts now and ends at midnight Pacific time on the last day of this month.
Be warned JAS, my next victory, whenever it may be, will unleash the Mystery Box.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Nov 3, 2012 22:55:40 GMT -5
First I watched Pinnochio and the Emperor of the Night which I expected to be a dumb kids movie and I was wrong. I'll start with the bad which are the first two songs which were phoned in and as a result bad. However besides the fact that things were genuinely funny and the animation was good, I found the movie to surprisingly dark for a kids film. There's a scene where Pinnochio and the other kids all get drunk on absinthe and as a result start hallucinating while they're being imprisoned, there's James Earl Jones voicing the Emperor of the Night which looks great man this was incredibly cool and dark stuff, reminded me of Alucard in the anime Hellsing. Surprisingly good movie with a villian that's cool as hell. It's so dark I'm counting it as a horror movie. If you got doubts watch it.
Second I watched the Stephan Frears, Martin Scorcese produced film from 1990 The Grifters about three of the aformentioned group. The movie is well acted, well shot, the violence is realistic, and the gore is also realistic. Also like the soundtrack. It has a few good twists ,but I didn't like the ending too much thought the way they got there was interesting (dont' want to give anything away).
After that I watched my third Jeff Lieberman film Squirm which is about a swarm of angry sea worms. So far it's the best of the three, the acting is good except for one scene where Roger is screaming (which is hilariously bad), the gore looks good and the worms look creepy, disgusting,and have these awesome screams (which were taken from pigs at a slaughterhouse. I liked the setting and cinematograhpy. Apparently during one scene where the worms cut a tree down by swarming it, they really cut down a tree and so the cast's reactions were genuine. A pretty decent horror movie.
Finally I watched Jack Ketchum's The Girl Next Door. Man this movie was sad and fucked up. It's about a girl's slow murder and torture by her sadistic aunt and other neighborhood kids. The acting is great, cinematograhpy great, gore great. The aunt is one of the best purely evil antagonist/villian I've ever seen. What's sadder is that this was based on a true story. Great movie ,but be ready for what you're getting into. If you cand handle this than you can handle A Serbian Film.
JAS-7
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 5, 2012 21:49:12 GMT -5
So, a stomach flu woke me up at four in the morning on Thursday/Friday, which led me to vomit into the bathtub, lean back, and then erupt into the toilet. This continued non-stop for nine hours. I was dehydrated, sicker than from food poisoning (been there, done that), and probably almost in shock when I drove myself to the emergency room..... I love I.V.s!
Slept like I have never slept from Friday until this morning, and still a bit dazed and frankly fucked up. I couldn't look at food for about fifty hours. DRANK NO BEER EITHER. But I heal like Logan, well only when I bleed, so nevermind, my ass was whomped!
LOB-Zero, nada, zilch
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 5, 2012 21:50:37 GMT -5
Oh yeah, Vote people. Get out there tomorrow.
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 7, 2012 0:49:03 GMT -5
Inside Job. A MUST WATCH!!! This beautifully filmed documentary made me so mad last night, and because of who Obama's economic team consists of, I decided to vote Libertarian today. I changed my vote back and forth but settled on Obama. I'm ever the pessimistic optimist. Ale to the Chief!
LOB-1
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 14, 2012 19:51:56 GMT -5
Popped my cherry. Finally watched The Dunwich Horror.
I loved Dee Brown and her milky white and pure sexiness. I liked the animation at the start, dug the acting, enjoyed the car crashing scene, and I enjoyed the score and camera work including the use of wind to "show" Wilbur's twin moving through the woods and houses.
I did not like the fight between Wilbur and the library police type of guy. It was hokey. I also don't get why the house caught on fire when Wilbur's twin knocked over the glass piece that Dee Brown had earlier knocked over. Made no sense. I also thought the monster looked like poo and the psychedelia, though typical in the day, dated this movie. Oh yeah, Wilbur looked like a total dork but I dug that, it made him look more odd in a nefarious trickster kind of way. His black tie/scarf was not at all manly.
I liked this movie and will watch it again. It is kinda charming in it's own way.
LOB-3
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Nov 14, 2012 23:31:11 GMT -5
First I watched Michael Mann's 2006 adaptation of Miami Vice. The violence is great, realistically performed with gore that matches. The acting and cinematograhpy are solid as well. The only problem for me was that there should of been more focus on a longer gunfight or the crime element instead of the crappy romance. Overall a good movie.
Second I watched David Fincher's version of The Girl With the Dragon Tatoo. The cinematograhpy, acting, story, violence, soundtrack, and gore in this movie is great. There are two especially strong performances through the characters of Elisabeth and Martin. Don't want to give anything away and instead highly reccomend this movie if you haven't seen it.
After that I watched Danny Boyle's 1996 masterpiece Trainspotting. Wow what a great movie. All I knew coming in was that it supposedly had some realistic fight scenes (it does) ,but I wasn't expecting it to be this quality of film. It's about a group of friends(the majority of who are heroin addicts) and there ups and downs. The movie is hilarious, then strongly sad and depressing, and then has these awesome fight scenes. The use of cinematograhpy and music is also great. This movie really got to me man. High reccomend.
Finally I watched The Godfather for the first time in it's complete entirety. I'd seen the first two thirds through various viewings on television ,but this was the first time I saw the final third and watched it from beginning to end. Not much to say except that it's a great movie that lived up to the hype for me. The acting, gore, soundtrack, violence, and cinematograhpy is great. Francis Ford Coppola was just on fire during the 70's.
Nice to watch a set of great movies (and one that had some great elements).
JAS-11
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 15, 2012 4:53:41 GMT -5
So I haven't gotten into Japanese horror so far in life, but I'm willing to try.
Just watched Living Hell the non-chainsaw Japanese version of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, according to the DVD box. Didn't like most of the movie, but the rub(s) at the end made me like it and made the rest of the movie work for me by the credits. It is like TTCM in that it stars SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER a fucked up family, has a scene stealing scene with the (to me) Hitchhiker-like character during dinner, and another family member does a shot-for-shot getting run over by a semi truck. The TTCM part of the movie was the best, and I liked the swerve at the very end that recalled Norman and his relationship to Mother. SPOILERSPOILERSPOILER ENDS. Good stuff I will rewatch someday.
LOB-5
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 17, 2012 9:32:15 GMT -5
Der Golem from 1920.
I will start off with the good and great about this film.
LOB-7
Dammit. EDIT. I wrote quite a bit about this movie. Pro-boards sneezed. Fuck it, that makes me mad. I liked the movie. Short and simple. I will rewatch but it was plenty ignorant and racist, but possibly the best silent era horror I have seen.
A Modelo Especial Cheers! to me not getting so grumpy.
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 18, 2012 22:18:58 GMT -5
I want to say more about Der Golem now that I am less grumpy. It was the best made silent horror film I have seen and the monster is a great villain. This was the director's third "Golem" film (the first two are now lost films) so he really had a great feel for his villain. Unlike the Frankenstein Monster or other Universal monsters, besides Dracula, this monster is not a sympathetic character. He reminds me more of a super-humanly strong comic villain or specifically Lee and Kirby's Grey Hulk or Peter David's version of the grey behemoth, "Joe Fixit". This was a great movie, comparable to the sci-fi classic Metropolis, and a better film than John Barrymore's Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde or Nosferatu, except for Max Schreck's home run performance. My only problem is that this film is almost as insulting to the Jewish faith and it's traditions as D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation was to the freed black man after Reconstruction. The Jews worship stars and constellations instead of a single monotheistic entity. They also are either goat-faced or dressed in stereotypical witch garb including black robes and very pointy black hats. Still, one great movie I will rewatch and I recommend. First I watched The Booth a Japanese psychological thriller/ghost story about a haunted radio station's Studio #6, specifically it's recording booth. Very good stuff. Makes you want to have good Kharma and not be an asshole to those we deal with. Bad actions can haunt you for life. I recommend. Second I watched The Collector which was originally penned to be a Saw prequel. I am not a Saw fan, and I have only watched the first film. So this is not my genre, torture porn. This was a good movie regardless. I think I don't enjoy torture porn because it seems to be a genre that is completely devoid of humor. They just don't seem to be good times on any level. So yeah, everybody dies in terrible ways and there is no semblance of a happy ending. This movie has a sequel I might watch someday, The Collection. Drinking a Modelo Especial, cheap and good, kinda like me. Cheers! to my pal Dusty who adopted one of my granddaughters today, Jazz, named after the tough as nails and extremely talented ECW female rassler, so a Cheers! to her and her man Rodney Mack. LOB-11
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 19, 2012 10:51:11 GMT -5
Never watched one of the Scary Movie bombs. Never going to. Just watched a classic horror farce with no fart jokes or cheap toilet humor.
Attack of the Killer Tomatoes is the Airplane! or The Naked Gun of horror. This was a fun time and I highly recommend this film. Made me smile a few times. The first 30 minutes saw two tributes to Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest, one to The Birds, another to Night of the Living Dead, and another one to Jaws. Plus Donny Osmond saves the day, kinda. Fun, fun, fun. Like a Looney Tunes short, but with vegetables. And my favorite character was the airborne trooper. Good times, I tell you what.
LOB-13
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Nov 19, 2012 13:34:47 GMT -5
I don't necessarily mind a film without humor ,but my problem with "torture porn" is my problem with alot of horror movies in general. They have unlikeable or bland characters. If you really care about a character then the torture can be some strong stuff if you don't then you don't care and it's just violent shit that has no emotional effect.
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Post by loverofbeers on Nov 20, 2012 16:12:49 GMT -5
That was one thing about The Collector I did like, you like the protagonist though he is an ex-con on a heist, but saving lives or making a difference meant more to him than his theft of a diamond. I probably will watch the sequel sometime as it follows the villain, who had CRAZY fucked up eyes and the beat-up survivor/protagonist.
Humor is not needed in horror but it does help diffuse the viewer between scares. A movie like TTCM, all of them in the series to think about it, have an element of humor whether The Hitchhiker, Bill Moseley's character, R. Lee Ermy's wry lines, or even Ken Foree's character all added some levity to horrific situations.
Humor was utterly not needed in Event Horizon and it affected my enjoyment of the film but the humor in The Thing somehow added to the tension. So yeah, not always needed, but effective when used in a balanced way.
But I see your point about the depth of characters in torture porn, and that as two Canadians discussed talking about a younger niece, the newer audience that was not lucky enough to get an old school horror education from an older loving relative or friends, doesn't like psychology in movies or "the slow burn" but would rather get gobs more gore than a generation ago with little character and plot development and right off the bat.
I don't worry about horror's future, it all balances out and gore is good. But plot makes it so much better.
Watched The Invisible Man (1933). This is the most intentionally funny Universal monster film I have seen. The Invisible Man can be a raving lunatic of a murderer (derailing a train full of passengers) but most often than not he would be an evil prankster and plotting megalomaniac would-be master criminal. A fun ride.
Drinking a Real Ale Coffee Porter. I have been a fan of this beer for eleven years. This is the first bad bottle I have had. Tastes like it was brewed in Britain, so a very small and sad Cheers! to revolutionary special effects of yesteryear paving the way for others to impress us movie lovers.
LOB-15
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Nov 23, 2012 21:13:52 GMT -5
First I watched Clive Barker's 1995 horror film Lord of Illusions about a cult who's leader wields magic. This was an uneven movie man. Some of the acting was good and some atrocious. Most of the gore was great, the blood and bone looked awesome ,but then there were crappy CGI monsters. The cinematograhpy was good and I liked the opening how it just went right into it with no background. I did like the noir feel and about half of the soundtrack was good. This is the 2nd Clive Barker directed film I've watched and in both he has great gore ,but then has god awful CGI.
Second I watched 1997's L.A. Confidential by Curtis Hanson and starring Russel Crowe, Kevin Spacey, Guy Pearce, and Danny Devito. It's a neo-noir set in the 50's that has a rather complex plot centering around three different police officers. This was a great movie, the soundtrack, acting, gore, violence, intricate plot, and just the realsim were all superb. I'm so glad I watched this movie ,but don't want to give nothing away. Great movie, high reccomend.
After that I watched 1980's Motel Hell starring Roy Calhoun about Farmer Vincent and his meats. This was a really funny movie. From the acting to dialogue to the whole concept. Farmer Vincent is a great character. The gore that was seen during the end looked really good and the chainsaw duel was awesome mainly because of Vincent's insane laughter. Great cinematograhpy and soundtrack. Some of the acting isn't the best ,but I think that's intentional. The last line is one of the greatest of all time. Glad I finally watched this movie.. and yeah the pig mask looks awesome.
Finally I watched Australian mockumentary horror film Lake Mungo. This was really different to what I was expecting, the acting is good I mean it feels like a real documentary ,but isn't. The only problem is because of this nothing really happens except for people talking in interviews. Not bad just... different.
JAS-18
Edit: Lord Of Illusions also had these godawful fake sound effects for anytime someone got hurt.
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Post by jakeawesomesnake on Nov 23, 2012 21:20:50 GMT -5
See your idea of humor is what I lumped into likeable characters so I guess we agreed and I didn't get it ha. Whenever I heard that I always assumed they meant over the top stuff which I don't mind ,but don't neccesarily want it in a really good serious horrror movie.
On a sidenote, it makes me sad when a movie will have these great gore effects and then cheap out with Youtube quality monster effects. I was also wondering why don't people make more horror movies in black and white. I think you could really take advatage of the lack of color for better gore effects.
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