| Author |
Message |
|
| Joe Vitus |
 Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:01 pm |
 |
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
|
| The movie was dumb enough to irriate me, but I think was actively pissed me off were the people in the screening room screaming to make other people scream whenever nothing much was happening on screen. |
_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
|
| Back to top |
 
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:04 pm |
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
| Joe, the only reason I'd go to see PARANORMAL ACTIVITY would be for the audience experience. I have read that is the fun of it. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:12 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
|
| I felt it was forced, like they were trying to make it into an audience event akin to what you see in the commercials. It didn't feel spontaneous. I think I might have like the movie better on a weeknight, though I think I would have still thought it was hokey. |
_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Sat Oct 24, 2009 11:19 pm |
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
| The trailers for Fantastic Mr. Fox disturb me because the creatures look like they were created by a taxidermist (maybe because the animation is stop-motion). I'm also worried that it was directed by Wes Anderson, who has given me unpleasant experiences in the past. On the plus side, George Clooney and Meryl Streep are doing voiceovers, on the negative, so is Jason Schwartzman. It's based on a Roald Dahl book. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 2:40 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
| PARANORMAL ACTIVITY is going to be the the top grossing film this weekend bringing its total close to sixty million dollars. That's right, $60 million. The film cost $11 thousand to make. I'm dusting off my video cameras. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Joe Vitus |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 3:47 am |
|
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 14498
Location: Houston
|
| You'd make a better movie. |
_________________
You've got a great brain. You should keep it in your head.
-Topher |
|
| Back to top |
|
| gromit |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 11:40 am |
|
|
Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 9008
Location: Shanghai
|
Was disappointed with Public Enemies.
I didn't like the extreme close-ups and the shaky cam. They worked okay I guess in the middle of the film, during some shootouts. But were distracting and dizzying early in the film, and kind of ruined the action at the end of the film, where the cutting left me no idea where the characters were in relation to each other.
I just saw no real point to the film. It seemed like a rather standard retelling for a new generation, with the kind of rough violence, quick editing, and camera tricks they are accustomed to.
Depp is reasonably good, but we never really get incite into his character. I couldn't decide if Bale was either bad or his character just terribly under-written. I think both contribute. Cotillard seemed an awkward fit in the film. And in the latter part of the film, she looked too modern.
I checked out Ebert's review, but he thinks the film is without cliche, where I found it brimming with them. For starters, it seemed like every important character that dies has time enough for some last words. He also gets it wrong about Dillinger showing vulnerability, apparently forgetting when he cries in the car.
Anyway, it's not a bad film, just not that much to it. We get a smattering of Hoover, some of Purvis, cameos by other famous gangsters, etc.
I did like the jailbreak with the fake gun. That was the only time I got drawn into the film. Otherwise there just wasn't much to engage with.
I should add that it was nice to hear soem Billie Holiday on the soundtrack. And along with the Annette Hanshaw in Sita has me foolishly optimistic that a resurgence of late 20's/early 30's jazz vocals is on the way. Or perhaps that's just because I saw Dee Dee Bridgewater last week who had lots of Ella and Ellington in her set. So three hits of 30's jazz in a week seems to signal some overwhelming global trend.
I'm also quite a fan of the song Bye Bye Blackbird. That might be the first I've heard Diana Krall singing. Her version is very slow and whispery, reminding me somewhat of Patricia Barber's from 1945. I think my favorite versions are Helen Merill's (soft, sweet and playful), Etta Jones' (weary and resilient), and Joe Cocker's (somber and subdued). Anyone else know a good version, I'm all ears. |
_________________
Killing your enemies, if it's done badly, increases their number. |
|
| Back to top |
|
| billyweeds |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 12:50 pm |
|
|
Joined: 20 May 2004
Posts: 20618
Location: New York City
|
| I liked Paranormal Activity quite a bit better than The Blair Witch Project and much better than Public Enemies. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 1:26 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
okay okay. I'll go see Paranormal Activity.
By the way, Paranormal Activity had it's premiere here in Austin in mid-Sept. during the Fantastic Film Festival. It's been playing at midnight ever since. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Earl |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 6:45 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 09 Jun 2004
Posts: 2621
Location: Houston
|
Joe Vitus wrote: I don't understand the good words on this forum for Paranormal Activity, which I saw with Earl tonight. He kindly called it "a bunch of silliness," but I thought it was a pile of stupidity.
I stand by that line even though my opnion of Paranormal Activity has softened a bit since last night. I still wouldn't recommend the movie, but there are one or two things I grudgingly like about it now.
The thing is, however, that no matter what my opinion of the movie is, Syd made an important point when he said that the movie would be better appreciated by an audience who is seeing it cold. The movie must be allowed its surprises.
With that in mind, off I go into SPOILER territory.
SPOILER stuff in white - highlight to read:
One thing the movie does well is that we never get a direct look (unless you count the very end, which I'm not sure we should) at the entity that haunts the couple. The movie shows only the evidence of its presence, never the thing itself.
Plus, the special effects were actually pretty seamless. Perhaps the low-budget home-video look of the movie made it easier to hide them, but there are times when people and objects do impossible things and I couldn't see how they were being manipulated.
And it's on this point that I question the publicity release that the movie cost only $11,000 to make. I believe that figure is an invention of Paramount's PR Department. They want to further the idea that the movie really is "found footage" and that all they had to do was edit it. The special effects are just too slick to have cost only $11,000.
The movie tries to get out of the old "Eddie Murphy Haunted House Rule" on a technicality. (For those who never saw Murphy's early stand-up, he had a routine in which he wondered why white people in horror movies stay in the house after they discover the house is haunted.) But the advice from the expert (the Ghost Whisperer?) that, "It's not the house; it's YOU. It will follow you wherever you go," doesn't hold up because the young couple stays long after most people would have run screaming to the police, fire department, psych ward, whatever.
Speaking of that, Roger Ebert, even though he liked Paranormal Activity and gave it 3-1/2 stars, had this to say about the idea that the only local "demonologist" would be out of the country for a few days:
==========
"They do call in a "psychic expert" (Mark Fredrichs) but he's no help. He specializes in ghosts, he explains, and he knows by walking in the door that what's haunting them isn't a ghost but some sort of demonic presence. He recommends a demonologist, but alas this man is "away for a few days." That's the plot's most unrealistic detail. Having spent some time in my credulous days hanging about the Bodhi Tree bookstore in L.A., I would suggest that California is a state with more practicing demonologists than published poets."
============
I wondered about that, too.
END SPOILER
Remember those young teens in front of us last night who tried to get in to the theater and got carded? The movie would most likely appeal to that age group because they haven't seen too many horror flicks yet. Me? I can admire the technical craft in a scene or two, but the movie didn't scare me. The scariest thing that happened to me all last night was when we were in the Thai restaurant before the movie and I spilled sause on my shirt. |
_________________
"I have a suspicion that you are all mad," said Dr. Renard, smiling sociably; "but God forbid that madness should in any way interrupt friendship." |
|
| Back to top |
|
| mirgun |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 7:52 pm |
|
|
Joined: 23 Oct 2009
Posts: 165
Location: New York City
|
I stilll can't figure out this site.. i want to post it on current films/ new topic, but it won't let me.. so I'm posting as a reply to Paranormal( BTW i have 3 friends into this ..crap, but all three didn't like it)
I just came home from seeing Antichrist and as i told Marc as soon as I saw it, I thought it was unfuckinunbelievable" and intriguing !! A great pycho-sexual-men and women-religious notations-horror flick.It definitely gave me the feeling of a Tarkovsky movie (some parts..and he dedicates this movie to him, and I know a lot of critics have chastised him for this)
I knew I was in for a ride with the Prologue, all Blk and Wht, super slow motion, Handel, which made me teary eyed,beautiful imagery,and yes,making penetrating love ,(that's the way we all make love) and tragedy .I felt .. well,it made me.. feel..
The next chapters,were grief, pain and despair, which we can all identify with, and Charlotte Gainsbourg was so...real..While there seemed to be a lot of psycho-babble in the middle( the psychologist husband tyring to "cure" his wife) if you're into gore and mutilation and etc for both of them, and revenge of women, it delivers in gory detail.It was kind of hard to watch but that's what" horror" movies are supposed to do.. If you're into gore, it really picks up the last one third of the movie.
I loved the references to Tarkovsky (and i don't care what other critics think) and the imagery reminding me of Hieronymus Bosch, all of which were stunningly beautiful
I thought Charlotte Gainsbourg especially , gave a great, emotional performance and( also hat's off to Williem Defoe) The entire movie is about them, no other actors are really involved.I know a lot of you will end up disagreeing with me once you see the movie but, I'm open to it but right now, this is what I think.. |
_________________
Mirgun |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:06 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
Mirgun,
your 3 friends didn't like Paranormal Activity? |
Last edited by Marc on Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:10 pm; edited 1 time in total |
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:09 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
| Mirgun, any time you want to post a review or reply to one or just make a comment, just hit the "post reply" button. I know it's a little confusing because you're not replying but posting a new review, but that's the way it works. You can also edit your reviews. There's an "edit" button on the upper right hand corner. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Marc |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:19 pm |
|
|
|
Joined: 19 May 2004
Posts: 8424
|
Mirgun,
check out Von Trier's "Breaking The Waves" and Dancer In The Dark". Von Trier is a film maker who polarizes audience's and critics. I like him alot. He's a shit stirrer. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
| Syd |
| Posted: Sun Oct 25, 2009 8:36 pm |
|
|
|
Site Admin
Joined: 21 May 2004
Posts: 12894
Location: Norman, Oklahoma
|
Mirgun: If you want a direct reply to someone, you can use the quote button next to the post (and you can delete the parts you're not replying to if you want, but be sure to leave the square brackets around the quote and /quote).
If you want to post a spoiler and not have anyone else read it, then block the offending test and choose font color white. |
_________________
I had a love and my love was true but I lost my love to the yabba dabba doo, --The Flintstone Lament |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
