Monster Zero x SciFi Japan - Archive Only

IT - 10/10

Brazil - Uh... yeah... I couldn't really get into this one. It just seemed to be a lot of random nonsense. I know it was meant to be a social commentary on how ridiculous beauracracy is and that you can get buried in paperwork, but that doesn't mean it gripped me. The camera work were fantastic, especially during the chase scene at the end of the movie, but overall, it just left me with a "meh" feeling. It also dragged on way too long as it did not need to be nearly two and a half hours long. I was bored by the hour mark. Still, it was creative in its execution, so I'm going to give it a generous 7/10.

We went to see IT again. Still a 10/10. God damn this movie is phenomenal.

IT

I took my sister and currently Hurricane dislocated nephews to see this movie, as apparently most other Americans did (geez, I knew this movie was gonna do well, but I didn't expect such a - pardon the pun - monster hit). It's terrific fun: a honest-to-god kids adventure movie with a R-rated horror movie happening in it. Feels similar to Gremlins and Poltergeist but with a graver and grislier monster. The Goonies is also a good reference point. The cast is excellent all around. Finn Wolfhard must have had a great time going from the upstanding kid leader Mike in Stranger Things to being the swearing, insult-spewing kid of the group in this movie.

My only real complaint is that when Pennywise gets all monstrous the CGI and digital jitteriness effect is often straight out of the '00s and I think if they had gone more simple and practical with those moments they'd be more effective (think Sadako vs. Samara). Doesn't take away from an otherwise fine performance by Skarsgård as the monster.

And again, despite what analytics are saying about the disappointing overall box office this year it has been, for me, a terrific year for movies! I started the year by making a double feature of Your Name and Get Out (one of my fav theater experiences), saw Kong and Baby Driver multiple times, etc. The lesson I hope Hollywood learns is to offer variety: the only thing that'll get people into theater seats is for movies to be a kind of event, and it's hard for everything to be an event if they're so similar.

It - maybe not super scary, but Skarsgard is amazing as Pennywise...in fact, I prefer it to Curry's performance (just BARELY). Also, the movie has an amazing amount of HEART for a horror movie. In the first five minutes alone, they establish two characters so well that I was dreading what we ALL know happens in the opening scene. I felt so bad, and wished it didn't have to happen. That's amazing for any movie, but especially one where you already know what's going to happen. Some departures from the book, and a couple in big ways including a character or two that gets kinda sidelined a little more than they should, but I also felt like the filmmakers all understood the essence of the story and the essence of Stephen King. At one point, everything felt so lifted out of Stephen King's mind, that I had a grin on my face for basically the rest of the film. It's not perfect: as I mentioned a character or two gets sidelined, and I wish it had been a little less JUMP LOUD SCARE NOW IT'S SUPPOSED TO BE SCARY SO IT'S LOUD AND SPOOOKY TIME!!!! but I had an absolute BLAST with it and it's like a 4.5 or 4 outta 5 for me.

^Yeah, I conflate some of the unnecessary CGI stuff with the loud jump scares. My only real complaint for an otherwise really solid film.



Just how many Skarsgards are out there, anyway?

Your guys' glowing reviews made me look a little closer into this movie. I'm not usually a fan of horror (except the classics, generally before the 70's. mostly 30's-50's) but y'all had such high praise and then comparing it to things like ET, Goonies, etc. piqued my interest. So I read up a bit more about it... and NOPE. Definitely not going to see this. I absolutely cannot stand watching horrible things happen to kids in tv and movies anymore. I used to be able to separate myself from what was happening on screen (so long as it wasn't TOO graphic), knowing it wasn't real. But ever since becoming a parent I just cannot watch kids being traumatized like that. It makes the rest of the experience completely unenjoyable.

I'd say my limit now is stuff like Stranger Things or the original Twin Peaks, where the really gruesome or traumatizing stuff is not shown, or happens to older (almost adult) teens. IT sounds like it goes WAY past my threshold of what I can stomach when it comes to kids.

/\ Whimp!!! Kids should not be protected just because they are kids. Besides, from my understanding, the majority of the stuff doesn't happen until they are adults as the book was originally done then with flashbacks to when they were kids.

The Haunted Palace - Another pretty solid Vincent Price movie, although I felt like this one needed to be longer. There really wasn't an ending, it just kind of stops and they needed more time to build up the struggle between Ward and his great grandfather. That aside, the camera work and atmosphere continue to impress me as does the acting of the cast. It was odd to see Lon Chaney and Elisha Cook Jr in color as I'm used to seeing those two actors in B&W. Overall, not as good as Usher, Pit, or Red Death, but still a solid movie overall. I give it an 8/10.

Went and saw It tonight. I enjoyed it better than the original mini series but Curry will forever be the superior Pennywise for me. The movie wasn't scary at all not like people made it out to be. I didn't even jump once.

Overall I'd give the movie a 7.5 or 8 out of 10.

It depends on what your definition of scary is. To me, scary means it has tension, suspense, horror, monsters, all of which this movie had. The music really amped up the tension, especially during the scene where

As for Curry, from the clips I've seen of the mini series, Curry wasa joke. He acted like a stalker in clown make up. Not like a demonic jester that serves Flagg.

What scares are is entirely subjective. There were a few jumps scares, a couple of manic digital jittery moments straight out of the early '00s, some moments of dread, tense moments, a few disturbing moments, bizarre visual moments... I think IT provided a little sample of various different types of scares throughout. Maybe the folks saying there are no scares are ones who only like one patented type of film scare and were disappointed the movie wasn't all that kind of scare.

Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies is on Amazon Prime, people! This is not a drill!

^Fantastic Dinosaurs isn't really a doc. Well, there's a little intro at the beginning providing some bare essentials, but basically it was a VHS tape that collected all these giant monster movie trailers. It was the first time I (and many others, apparently) found out about a lot of these movies and got clued into who Ray Harryhausen was - it includes the long Golden Voyage of Sinbad teaser, which was more of a behind the scenes profile of who Ray was and all the creatures he's created.

That vhs defined me

John Wick

The only thing stupider than killing John Wick's dog and stealing his car is to knock John Wick unconscious and not immediately kill him. I mean, you might as well just shoot yourself at that point.

Just watched well...the last half or so of X Men Days of Future Past (happened to catch it on FX last night). ... Man I love the end of this movie, how it sets everything right that Last Stand screwed up. Too bad Apocalypse & Logan had to screw thing s up again continuity wise (I know everyone loves LOAGAN the film that's fine, but for me it ruined the bright future that the X-Men had fought so hard to win).

Also its been years since I tried to watch a film on regular television...gawd the commercials are agonizing, I cant imagine spending 3 hours and nearly 25% of that time in ads...I'm so glad we will be back in our own place in a couple months with just Netflix and online channels, I loved having no commercial television.