Recently watched movies!

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

Lobos de Arga aka Game of Werewolves- A Spainish werewolf movie that was actually quite good. There's even nods to classic werewolf flicks like An American Werewolf in London and Silver Bullet.

[Hybrid Gojira]

[jellydonut25]

I know some people hate it, but I find enough to enjoy in Silver Bullet to say I like it.

I might check this movie out. Thanks for the rec. Tom.

[eabaker]

I've actually recently moved Silver Bullet up one notch in my list of all-time favorite werewolf movies, just knocking Ginger Snaps out of the top 5.

[Tom R VanSlambrouck]

No problem guys I was quite suprised with how good it was. There's also some nods to the Paul Naschy werewolf films as well and probably more that I'm missing. The werewolf suits are quite good too.

[MosugojiNoGyakushu]

Here is an old scifi movie for you to look up. The other night I was bored and looking around on Netflix and came across a movie I hadn't seen in ages. It was Journey to the Seventh Planet,which was made in the early to mid 60's I think. It's a rather generic movie of it's time period but I watched it anyways. The part that stood out the most was the astronaut's battle with this cyclops like rat monster. To top that off the studio actually gave it Rodan's screeching roar from his debut movie. I wonder how some studios get away with that, what with how litigious Toho is and all. After isn't that the reason why the Hanna Barbara cartoon used Lurch to roar for Godzilla instead of him using his traditional roar due to Toho wanting and extra fee to use it?

[Dr Kain]

We saw North by Northwest at the Alamo Drafthouse for our anniversary tonight. THis is my second time watching it and I am upping my original score of 7/10 to an 8 as it was fantastic the second time around. A lot of the issues I had with it initially were no longer to be has as I did not have any problem following it this time. Also, my god, the airplane scene is just down right fantastic on the big screen. And of course, the music is amazing. Truly a wonderful movie.

Oh yeah, we saw a movie trailer during their preshow stuff for a movie called Charade that has Grant in it. Is that any good? It looked interesting.

[sentaison]

[Dr Kain]

People Under the Stairs - A friend of ours has been begging us to watch this movie for almost a month now, so we finally did. It wasn't terrible, but it wasn't very good either. It did have some great moments of suspense though, but I cannot help but have that sense of "Seen it before" syndrome. Yes, I know it was made in the 90s, but I have seen this plot done before. I wonder if all of those deformed dudes end up out in the hills of the Arizona desert though. Overall, I give it a 6/10 as the movie was kind of dumb, but like I said, it had some good moments in it, so it was worth watching once.

[eabaker]

Yesterday was a movie-heavy day for me; I watched 3 on DVD, and went to the theater for a fourth. Two were movies I'd seen before, two were movies I had not. In viewing order:

The Men Who Tread on the Tiger's Tail (Akira Kurosawa, 1945) - I'd only seen this one once before, over a decade ago. Bought the DVD years ago, but it's taken me a long time to get around to watching it. I really dig this movie, and would say it's the first time that Kurosawa really achieved the overall style and pace that makes something now instantly identifiable as "a Kurosawa movie." The controversial insertion of the comic relief porter played by Eno-Ken is absolutely inspired; while it is Denjiro Okochi's portrayal of Benkei that carries the drama, the porter gives us a better identification character, and highlights both the nobility and the almost comical earnestness of everyone else.

Mr. and Mrs. Smith (Alfred Hitchcock, 1941) - The same visual and editorial instincts that made Hitchcock "the master of suspense" serve him very well in comedy; it all comes down to building tension before a relieving payoff, and letting the audience know just a little bit more than the characters at any given moment - but not too much more. Furthermore, the film's very last image is about as purely Hitchcockian is it can get. Unfortunately, the male lead's motivations are a little unclear at a key turning point in the first act, and are never really explained; and the second half of the movie just drags on a bit, with no real narrative direction.

Clerks II (Kevin Smith, 2006) - I really liked this when it first came out, and enjoyed it pretty well when I watched the DVD a couple of times right after it was released. However, repeated viewings had somewhat diminishing returns. Coming back to it after a few years - and after recently re-kindling my passionate love affair with the original Clerks - it just doesn't hold up. Too much of it feels contrived, too much of it feels obvious; Smith is trying too hard to be the same writer he was when he made the original. And it just doesn't work thematically; Dante's continuing inability to make any life choices for himself doesn't ultimately do him any harm, nor does he have the chance to overcome this issue, because, in the end, Randal, Jay and Bob just solve pretty much everything for him. And, Lord, Emma is just a badly underdevloped character, whose suffering at the end of the film we're apparently supposed to be able to just blow off because she was never dimensional or real in any way to begin with.

Gravity (Alfonso Cuaron, 2013) - Glad that I got to see this on the big screen, in 3D, because that seems like really the only way to experience this movie - and I mean that as a compliment and a criticism. It was immersive, it was powerful, it was often overwhelming; seen in this format, the tension and the spectacle were both absolutely brilliant. However, a lot of the character work was obvious and heavy-handed, in a way that would be a little problematic - though not devestating - in a format that wasn't otherwise so awe-inspiring. Still, overall it was very good, at times reaching into greatness... and then the last 30 seconds happened... It was as if, after building this tight, engaging, one-of-a-kind experience, right at the end the filmmakers simply looked at us and said, "This was all so powerful, was it not? And you see what we did there? Gravity! Feel it! I demand that you feel the Gravity of it all! Gravity!"

[klen7]

[jellydonut25]

[eabaker]

[jellydonut25]

^I more or less agree with that take.

[Dr Kain]

[XvGojira]

[Dr Kain]

[Shokara]

I just saw Gravity. My eyes and ears were locked onto that TV screen for the whole hour and a half without a single moment of pausing or rewinding. It was gripping, emotional, literally had me on the edge of my seat (bed actually), the sound was eerie in its realism, and that ambient score by Steven Price was haunting and beautiful. That movie lived up to every bit of praise and accolade that I heard about it, and I now understand why everyone online and at work that knew me as a movie fan was shocked when I told them I hadn't seen this yet. I am so happy I picked this up. Best impulse purchase I made in years.

[XvGojira]

The Wind Rises - Saw it this morning for my girlfriend's birthday. It was a fairly somber movie in tone with no real antagonist, other than the vague artist vs industry idea that is just sort of glossed over. Like most Miyazaki films, it's a visual and auditory treat. The use of human voices instead of actual sound effects for many of the scenes adds to the movie's dream-like quality.

[Dr Kain]

I haven't seen Gravity, but I'm glad it didn't win best picture. I'm sure it is a good movie, but everyone is telling me to not even waste my time seeing it on Netflix as it is only worth seeing in a theater. If a movie cannot be enjoyed on any sized screen, it simply does not deserve to win a best picture award (which it didn't thankfully).

[jellydonut25]

I didn't see Gravity in a theater and found it enjoyable.

That said, it wasn't up to snuff with a few of the other BP nominated films....but I'm very pleased Cuaron won for Direction. I've seen all the noms in that category, and he did by FAR the best job.

[Dr Kain]

[klen7]

[GoDziLLaX]

12 Years A Slave

Not the type of movie I'd typically watch, but it was great. A very graphic and emotional tale about a free black man who is captured and sold into slavery.

[jellydonut25]