What MOVIE(s) have you been....seeing? watching?

Grud, highly recommend Man on Wire if you can. It's the documentary The Walk is based on. Real footage, real people, no bad accents. It's one of my two favorite movies of the oughts.

Thanks for the heads up on Sicaro. Really want to see that

Black Barney wrote: Grud, highly recommend Man on Wire if you can. It's the documentary The Walk is based on. Real footage, real people, no bad accents. It's one of my two favorite movies of the oughts.

Thanks for the heads up on Sicaro. Really want to see that

I mentioned before that I wasn't intending to see The Walk because I had already seen Man on Wire. Sheesh Barney... You can't remember everything everyone's ever posted here?? :oP

The Walk is definitely worth seeing, aside from Man on Wire. A different narrative perspective, especially for that WTC wire walk. Levitt's accent is fine. Didn't distract for me at all, and I've heard much worse attempts at French accents.

Whoops, you're right, we've danced this dance before. Yeah, Jodie fosters accent in elysium takes the cake

Six months ago, I knew that I was going to see Crimson Peak, for three reasons:

1. Directed by Guillermo del Toro
2. Featuring Tom Hiddleston
3. Gothic horror

I am not the biggest del Toro fan around, but I am willing to give him a shot, because he is a good storyteller with a great eye for detail. And like George Miller, del Toro has a strong preference for practical effects over CGI. I love his Hellboy movies, though I thought that Blade II was just okay.

Though I have missed many of the modern Marvel movies, I did enjoy both Thor movies. One reason was Tom Hiddleston, a talented actor with a subtly expressive face. Based just on his Loki performances, I got the impression that he could play a wide range of roles and emotions.

When I say gothic horror, I am not speaking of the White Wolf style of gothic-punk horror in a modern setting, though I certainly enjoy the local goth scene. No, this is real gothic horror, rooted deeply in the tradition of gothic romances like my mother read when I was a kid. My mom also liked to read spy novels, murder mysteries, history books, and the daily news, so I was curious about the gothic horror. The covers always featured an old castle or manor, at night, with a frightened and yet beautiful woman in the foreground. The back cover blurb would invariably talk about a rich and/or noble family with dark secrets. And yet randomly flipping through them, I saw nothing particularly gripping. No monsters and no action, just some overwrought female protagonist who seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown.

So I never actually sat down and read through a gothic romance novel, though the dark hints and the impressive real estate took up some space in the back of mind, ready to re-surface at odd times. Like when I developed a taste for horror movies, or first started reading Lovecraft, or especially when I got into Dungeons & Dragons.

Crimson Peak, as far as I can tell, is real gothic horror that initially takes on the appearance of gothic romance. Del Toro does a wonderful job of delivering the period piece setting of the early 1900s, including even the manner of speaking, the concern with class, and the secondary role of women in society. Of course the heroine aspires to rise above her place, though her appearance is refreshingly non-Hollywood and therefore very suited to the period, with her pale skin and preposterous hair.

The movie nicely builds tension from the very first scene, to the point where the audience was easily cowed into silence except for very small amount of nervous laughter in scenes that weren't actually funny. The heavy use of cliches threatens to ruin the movie, but they serve well to set up a few surprises late in the proceedings. The final reel rewards the patient viewer with plenty of thrills and chills.

I thought that Crimson Peak was an excellent movie, particularly for immersing itself in a somewhat obscure sub-genre that has only rarely appeared in movies. Del Toro commits fully to the genre and doesn't make compromises for the sake of broad audience appeal. From a commercial standpoint, I expect that Crimson Peak will do poorly, but I believe it should prove more than satisfying to a certain audience. Fans of gothic romance and gothic horror simply must see Crimson Peak. Fans of subtler horror, such as Lovecraft, will also enjoy this movie immensely. Modern horror fans might be too jaded to appreciate Crimson Peak, though even they will find some basis to respect this movie before the end.

Good to hear that it has some depth. It just didn't look very compelling to me from the trailer, and the reviews have been middling, but I think a lot of people are expecting it to be HORROR!!, when it seems to be more of a drama with some gothic horror elements. I'll try to catch it next week sometime.

Crimson Peak gave me some odd nightmares last night. Actually, I rarely remember my dreams, so I don't really have much basis for comparing with the dreams or nightmares induced by other movies. Still, instead of standard scary nightmares like being chased or attacked by a maniac, my nightmares last night were about more abstract fears. Fears of isolation, insolvency, abandonment, and weakness. The movie wasn't explicitly about that kind of scariness, but I think the glorious ruin of a mansion somehow got to me on a personal level due to my own personal anxieties about my house and my finances.

It's been a rough month so far. Two trips to the dentist, two trips to the veterinarian, and car repairs for both my girlfriend and I, adding up to about a paycheck worth of spending. On top of that, my annual fall maintenance on my furnace has become nerve-wracking. The CO2 level was over the safety limit, and if the tech hadn't been able to get it down to a safe level with some maintenance, it would have been time for a mandatory purchase of a new furnace. In the last two months, I have spent 10 months unemployed and 14 months at a reduced payrate, so financial issues keep me up some nights. I started looking for a better job months ago and have had some good interviews, but no offers yet.

Anyway, my point is that Crimson Peak somehow successfully connected with my own fears the way no other horror movie has in recent years.

One thing that may really help a horror movie is the successful execution of a period piece setting. That sucks in the viewer more fully than a movie set in a familiar modern environment. There was another movie in the previews yesterday that looked to pursuing a similar strategy: The Witch. That movie seems to be about witchcraft in New England in the 1600's, though taking place in an isolated wilderness setting instead of a paranoid town setting like Salem. The story may end up being rubbish, but the visuals look pretty intense.

Shellhead wrote: Though I have missed many of the modern Marvel movies, I did enjoy both Thor movies. One reason was Tom Hiddleston, a talented actor with a subtly expressive face. Based just on his Loki performances, I got the impression that he could play a wide range of roles and emotions.

Wide range, indeed.

consequenceofsound.net/2015/10/tom-hiddl...er-as-hank-williams/

Hey Shell, what's the length on CRIMSON PEAK like? Is it longer than those two posts?

I wish I'd liked Crimson Peak better, but it felt more like it was trying to evoke the gothic than actually being gothic. For me, it felt like most latter-day Westerns do to me: the notes without the tune.

As October rolls on my month of horror continues.

The Birds - They don't make em like this anymore. I love the dialog in this film...it sounds incredibly natural. It's also a slow burn type film where nothing "scary" happens for a long time. So you get a proper build up of the characters and the situation. So many modern directors could learn a thing or two from these classics. On a side note I was driving down a road near my house shortly after watching this moving and saw the two biggest crows of my life eating a piece of roadkill. When I saw the size of them and then thought about some of the situations from this film...yeah that shit would be terrifying if it happened in real life. Other side note...the main actress from The Birds is such a cutie!

The Mummy - For one reason or another I've never given the original Universal Mummy films as much love as Dracula, Frankenstein, The Wolfman or the Creature from the Black Lagoon. Big mistake. Goddamn this first film is a moody, atmospheric masterpiece! The makeup done by Jack Pierce on Boris Karloff is quite convincing. Karloff is simply hypnotic in the titular role. I just love listening to him speak. He is somewhat sympathetic, but terrifying at the same time. The film re-uses a couple of male leads from Dracula...and actually the plot feels similar to Dracula as well. The lead female in this movie is incredibly alluring with her big bright eyes. She's unusual looking, but it works for this film. Like many older films The Mummy is fairly slow, but damn...it's awesome. There are some really tense scenes and it holds up really well. It's a shame that the old Universal Monster flicks have fallen out favor with modern audiences.

Tales That Witness Madness - I'm officially done with the Amicus horror anthologies. This one was almost completely uninspired with a ridiculous overarching plot that I can't be bothered to recount. They haven't aged well at all and I'd rather take my chances with dreck like V/H/S.

Stung - This was a mediocre monster movie about giant, mutated wasps with Lance Henriksen in a supporting role. The pacing was off from the start with too many characters getting killed too early and then it dragged at the end. The stinger (ha!) at the end was at least clever.

Cooties - This one's about children at an elementary school that turn into rage zombies after one of them eats an infected chicken nugget, and it co-stars Elijah Wood and Rainn Wilson. I had such high hopes for this movie but it didn't really go for it and get as bonkers as the premise demands. It had some amusing moments but it ended up being less than the sum of its parts.

The Babadook - Excellent, of course. I wish this film was a person so I could give it a hug and buy it a drink for not having endless scenes of characters walking around looking for the source of the spooky goings-on, which is a fatal flaw in just about every haunted house movie.

The Prowler (1981) - I watched this based on the recommendation of the guys at the We Hate Movies podcast and, man, I really can't stand slashers. This one was padded out with so many slow, wandering around scenes (I fell asleep twice), the killer is revealed but his motivation is never explained, and the final stinger is ridiculous and makes no sense. The Tom Savini gore effects were good but otherwise it was a complete waste of time.

Late Phases - A movie about a blind Vietnam vet that runs afoul of a werewolf at a retirement community he joins. Like Cooties, I thought the premise was can't-miss but it just ended up being a muddled, mediocre mess. The main character also makes some ridiculous shots at the end of the movie to the degree that I thought the surprise twist would be that he was Daredevil all along.

The Thing (1982) - The only thing better than rewatching The Thing is watching it with someone who's never seen it before, so I watched it with my son. I'd forgotten how gory and disgusting it is (my favorite quote of his: "I feel like I want to throw up!" after the Norris scene) and I loved watching him go from zero to paranoid after he realized how the infection worked. This film is in a class by itself; it works as a creature feature if you want to just sit back and shut off your brain, it stands up to deeper analysis if you want to try and unpack the symbolism and it's also fun to play the parlor game of trying to figure out who's infected and when. The score is also excellent and really reinforces the hopeless, nihilistic mood.

After this viewing my new working hypothesis is that the way the infected humans behave indicates that their behavior is influenced by their previous human personality. I don't know if it holds water but I'm just enjoying the fact that I can still find new things in this film to think about after having seen it for the first time over 20 years ago.

I predict Seb will post again in a few hours after his boy wakes him up after having nightmares

Or not and he's made from tougher stuff than I am

Oh, the Amicus movies are fun...they aren't necessarily "good", but they make for a fun Halloween viewing. The one with Tom Baker, Patrick Troughton and David Warner is probably the best, I can't remember which one it is. Asylum is good. House that Dripped Blood has a couple of good ones. They come from a fine tradition of English horror, where you get a feeling that the characters are more inconvenienced and slightly offended by the horrific goings-on than actually scared or terrified. Like finding a lump of bad cheese in the bottom of the refrigerator. "Oh dear, it's Dracula".

Universal Mummy is oddly second fiddle to Dracula and Frankenstein, although I think it's actually a better (and better paced) movie than either of those two (we're not counting Bride here, which is a sublime masterpiece of the highest order). The Wolf Man is actually somewhat underrated as well, but it's not as good as The Mummy.

The Birds is an AMAZING film. I think my favorite part of the whole thing is when the gas station blows up. It's like, suddenly, shit is REAL. And it's so over-the-top that it just escalates the whole thing. Also the ending- no end credits. Which at the time, was very much NOT the done thing. I can imagine seeing it in the theater and being left with this sense of emptiness...that there was neither a reason nor an explanation at the end, let alone a conclusion.

Digression- I can't believe anyone took American Sniper seriously. That film is the cinematic equivalent of Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American". Total jingoistic cheese. I didn't finish watching it, which is rare for me when I sit down to watch a highly regarded, well-reviewed film. I probably liked it less than Birdman, and that's saying something.

That IS saying something. Most people that didn't like Birdman loved American Sniper. I've noticed that on several occasions. You is a snowflake

Michael Barnes wrote: Digression- I can't believe anyone took American Sniper seriously. That film is the cinematic equivalent of Lee Greenwood's "Proud to be an American". Total jingoistic cheese. I didn't finish watching it, which is rare for me when I sit down to watch a highly regarded, well-reviewed film. I probably liked it less than Birdman, and that's saying something.

I'll take a SWAG here and say you've never served in the military or in Iraq, so unless you instruct me otherwise I'll take Chris Kyles' account of the events over there over yours, Barnes. I ain't saying American Sniper is the best movie ever but the central theme I took away from it was that war changes people irrevocably and usually not for the best. The only reason that dude kept going back was to watch the backs of his brothers in arms, not to go kill tangos for MERCUH.