Movies just watched - Theatre V1

[Mercyknight]

finally saw the new alice in wonderland at the castle this last saturday. can't believe they all went for such a silly movie lol

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

The Elephant Man (1980).

[Gentian]

A Nightmare on Elm Street, The 2010 version. Twilight watched it with me last night in her vessel, sitting on my left shoulder like a little purple parrot-horse. Maybe everyone here has already seen it, but it was the first time for us. I'm a fan of the horror genre, so it was nice to see a remake that didn't totally bite. The 2004 Dawn of the Dead is a perfect example of what not to do, this one, however, was worth the watch. It's been a while since seeing the '84 version so I can't rightfully compare them, but going by the 2010 version itself:

The Good: Special effects. Similarly the cinematography; the director was good at setting up the lighting, and using the environment to enhance his scenes. Also, the lack of jump scares was great. Nothing will turn me off of a movie faster than a director who relies on sudden, loud - especially when they're 10,000 times louder than the spoken dialogue - noises to elicit cheap scares. Drag Me to Hell, I'm looking at you.

The Bad: I disliked how they clarified Freddy's guilt. It would have been a more poignant story, imho, if we never discovered whether or not he was innocent of the crimes for which he was killed.

The kid's plan for dealing with him was also kind of dumb. It seems to me, that since they knew Freddy was killed, and reduced to ashes, yet still came back as a murderous, dream-invading ghost, that their plan of pulling him out of the dream world only to kill him and burn him again was simply moronic. Sure, from the Watsonian perspective, they were extremely sleep-deprived, and from the Doyalist point of view, the slasher's got to come back, but it just irked me that nobody said "wait, isn't this what got us in to this mess in the first place?"

Pacing. It was way too fast, jumping from one scene to the other with insufficient time to "reset" from the last scare.

The Meh: The casting. Nobody was bad per se, the girls were quite pretty, and I enjoyed the new portrayal of Freddy. Seeing the DI from Starship Troopers was kind of cool, too.

It was also neat to see the photo boxes in the attic labeled "1996." In my youth, I would see stuff like that in movies, with the labels reading 197X, and think "that was SO long ago." Now, years I clearly remember are being used in the same way, and it threw me for a moment. Like the first time I saw a Playboy model who was younger than me. Trippy.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

Night of the Living Dead (1968).

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

Pacific Rim (2013).

Three years late on this, but it was surprisingly good.

[Gentian]

A few minutes ago, we finished The Silence of the Lambs. It's been years since I saw the movie, though I'm a great fan of the book. I'm sorry to say, it hasn't aged as well as I thought it would. It's still a very good movie; the story, music, characters, and directing are all excellent, but surprisingly, I find the acting to be somewhat cheesy now.

I'm thinking in particular of 2 scenes, the latter of which was one of my favorites: firstly, when Clarice was called back to Dr. Lecter's cell after Miggs threw his semen at her, and secondly, when she went to try and convince Dr. Lecter to tell her Buffalo Bill's name, shortly before he escaped. The first was ruined by Sir Hopkins, as despite him owning the role in every other way, his reaction to the thrown jism seemed needy and unrefined, and therefore extremely out of character. The second was due to Ms. Foster's delivery. For the most part, she made a laudable portrayal of Clarice Starling, despite being, imho never a good fit for the role, however, at several points in this scene, she seemed like the actress reciting lines which she was, instead of the traumatized, yet brilliant and very strong young woman she was pretending to be.

Yes, it's nitpicking, but it bothered me. Still this is an A+ movie! If you haven't yet, read the book. Thomas Harris is a god of prose, and obviously quite intelligent. Clarice, Hannibal, and several of the minor characters were given far more depth than a movie could possibly show, and if you're the kind of person who enjoys stories like The Silence of the Lambs in the first place, the book will be that cranked up to eleven.

Maybe, due to differences between non-verbal human and pony communications I missed the things which bothered him, but I thought it was a great movie! It's also the first one I've seen here which wasn't all about action and illusion, and the change was refreshing. Not only that, but now I know where that song Gentian listens too comes from. I thought he was saying goodbye to me the first time I heard him sing it.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

A few minutes ago, we finished The Silence of the Lambs. It's been years since I saw the movie, though I'm a great fan of the book. I'm sorry to say, it hasn't aged as well as I thought it would. It's still a very good movie; the story, music, characters, and directing are all excellent, but surprisingly, I find the acting to be somewhat cheesy now.

I'm thinking in particular of 2 scenes, the latter of which was one of my favorites: firstly, when Clarice was called back to Dr. Lecter's cell after Miggs threw his semen at her, and secondly, when she went to try and convince Dr. Lecter to tell her Buffalo Bill's name, shortly before he escaped. The first was ruined by Sir Hopkins, as despite him owning the role in every other way, his reaction to the thrown jism seemed needy and unrefined, and therefore extremely out of character. The second was due to Ms. Foster's delivery. For the most part, she made a laudable portrayal of Clarice Starling, despite being, imho never a good fit for the role, however, at several points in this scene, she seemed like the actress reciting lines which she was, instead of the traumatized, yet brilliant and very strong young woman she was pretending to be.

Yes, it's nitpicking, but it bothered me. Still this is an A+ movie! If you haven't yet, read the book. Thomas Harris is a god of prose, and obviously quite intelligent. Clarice, Hannibal, and several of the minor characters were given far more depth than a movie could possibly show, and if you're the kind of person who enjoys stories like The Silence of the Lambs in the first place, the book will be that cranked up to eleven.

Maybe, due to differences between non-verbal human and pony communications I missed the things which bothered him, but I thought it was a great movie! It's also the first one I've seen here which wasn't all about action and illusion, and the change was refreshing. Not only that, but now I know where that song Gentian listens too comes from. I thought he was saying goodbye to me the first time I heard him sing it.

Red Dragon (the book, not the crappy 2002 movie) and its first screen adaptation Manhunter will always be the best Lecter related works in my opinion. Manhunter and by extension the book fucking changed my life.

[Gentian]

A few minutes ago, we finished The Silence of the Lambs. It's been years since I saw the movie, though I'm a great fan of the book. I'm sorry to say, it hasn't aged as well as I thought it would. It's still a very good movie; the story, music, characters, and directing are all excellent, but surprisingly, I find the acting to be somewhat cheesy now.

I'm thinking in particular of 2 scenes, the latter of which was one of my favorites: firstly, when Clarice was called back to Dr. Lecter's cell after Miggs threw his semen at her, and secondly, when she went to try and convince Dr. Lecter to tell her Buffalo Bill's name, shortly before he escaped. The first was ruined by Sir Hopkins, as despite him owning the role in every other way, his reaction to the thrown jism seemed needy and unrefined, and therefore extremely out of character. The second was due to Ms. Foster's delivery. For the most part, she made a laudable portrayal of Clarice Starling, despite being, imho never a good fit for the role, however, at several points in this scene, she seemed like the actress reciting lines which she was, instead of the traumatized, yet brilliant and very strong young woman she was pretending to be.

Yes, it's nitpicking, but it bothered me. Still this is an A+ movie! If you haven't yet, read the book. Thomas Harris is a god of prose, and obviously quite intelligent. Clarice, Hannibal, and several of the minor characters were given far more depth than a movie could possibly show, and if you're the kind of person who enjoys stories like The Silence of the Lambs in the first place, the book will be that cranked up to eleven.

Maybe, due to differences between non-verbal human and pony communications I missed the things which bothered him, but I thought it was a great movie! It's also the first one I've seen here which wasn't all about action and illusion, and the change was refreshing. Not only that, but now I know where that song Gentian listens too comes from. I thought he was saying goodbye to me the first time I heard him sing it.

Red Dragon (the book, not the crappy 2002 movie) and its first screen adaptation Manhunter will always be the best Lecter related works in my opinion. Manhunter and by extension the book fucking changed my life.

The entire Lecter series was fantastic. Red Dragon is one of my favorites as well, though I'd only consider it a Lecter work on a technicality; Dolarhyde was an amazing character, and stole the show. His becoming was, imho one of the more intriguing motivations seen in fiction, and simultaneously one of the most interesting character development arcs, too.

"...before Me you rightly tremble. Fear is not what you owe Me, Lounds, you and the other pismires. You owe Me awe.”

Mmmmm.

Hannibal, the book, not the series, which I unfortunately have been unable to watch, is my personal favorite of the set. Primarily because it gives even more depth to Dr. Lecter, managing to lend him an almost supernatural air. The entire Verger clan was a delicious clusterfuck, their plans for revenge, and the iconic dinner between Hannibal, Clarice and Krendler were a fine take on the horror of consumption. And unlike that of the horrid movie, the ending was beautiful.

What can you say? Thomas Harris really is that good, despite falling face-first into some truly terrible cliches. Especially in Hannibal Rising. Oh well, nobody's perfect. It's really too bad that the only book to get a decent adaptation was The Silence of the Lambs.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

The entire Lecter series was fantastic. Red Dragon is one of my favorites as well, though I'd only consider it a Lecter work on a technicality; Dolarhyde was an amazing character, and stole the show. His becoming was, imho one of the more intriguing motivations seen in fiction, and simultaneously one of the most interesting character development arcs, too.

"...before Me you rightly tremble. Fear is not what you owe Me, Lounds, you and the other pismires. You owe Me awe.”

Oh I very much agree, Francis Dolarhyde is one of my favorite characters of all time in general. And the most relatable character I've encountered in fiction.

[Kaltes-Herzeleid]

The Deer Hunter (1978).

Putting it simply, there were plenty of great moments...but Jesus fucking Christ the movie could go at glacial speeds sometimes.