What Movies are you Watching?

[CephasWhite]

Paranormal Activity.

I might hold a review about it soon, just so you all know.

It was good.

[Azier the Swordsman]

Paranormal Activity.

I might hold a review about it soon, just so you all know.

It was good.

Is it as scary as all the trailers claim? I have a hard time finding any horror film capable of making me even remotely close to being on the edge of my seat.

[CephasWhite]

Is it as scary as all the trailers claim? I have a hard time finding any horror film capable of making me even remotely close to being on the edge of my seat.

It's scary.

I look back at it now and I think that if it came directly to video and people saw it alone and in the dark, it would be even more scarier.

Watching it in theaters was great because when there are 50 other people watching it with me, it's less scary. I actually laugh inside hearing others scream and breathe quickly when they don't expect something appearing out of nowhere or something flying towards the camera.

Going back to what I mentioned earlier: watching it by myself would be much scarier, no one...just myself...sounds...creepy things....*shudder*

I'm making a review for this movie so I can't really say much until I put it up.

I am going to say though that if you're a jumpy person, unlike me, prepare yourself. Moments will happen when you will jump out of your seat literally; I've seen it happen in the theater tonight. XD I'm not a jumpy person, like I mentioned before, but I do get to points where my eyes widen, my spine shivers and my heart beats faster. I experienced that quite a few times in this movie.

I've seen many paranormal videos before this one, and lots of them seem very unlikely to happen, and hokey. This one is almost to the point of fantastic.

[ich1990]

The Grudge

Well, I didn't find nearly as scary as I expected. I thought it showed way to much of the actual Grudge too early and didn't leave nearly enough to imagination. Once I can see the danger, the greatest fear, that of the unknown, is lost. Of course, The Grudge tried to make up for it with endless jump moments (which got a bit predictable after a while) and even a misplaced jaw (again, showing too much). It just felt a little campy to be honest. Also, the ending. What the heck was up with it? I mean, that's it? It feels.... incomplete.

The non-linear structure was pretty cool, though. I liked how the movie gave you no visual cues when it went through a time skip. It really kept the viewer on their toes and made them pay much more attention to the movie than they probably would have otherwise. Also, although it was not consistently so, I found some scenes to be very freaky. The death rattle and cat noises were also used to great effect. I imagine someone who is a little more prone to horror movies would overlook some of the more ridiculous portions and find The Grudge sufficiently scary. It certainly tried hard, I will give it that.

[wildpurplechild]

Secret Window: I like this movie a lot. The acting I thought was great, and I also liked the plot. I don't really like horror movies, but this thriller was good.

Van Helsing: Weird, but I also enjoyed this one. I love movies that combine classic stories together, like in Van Helsing.

[GhostontheNet]

The Grudge

Well, I didn't find nearly as scary as I expected. I thought it showed way to much of the actual Grudge too early and didn't leave nearly enough to imagination. Once I can see the danger, the greatest fear, that of the unknown, is lost. Of course, The Grudge tried to make up for it with endless jump moments (which got a bit predictable after a while) and even a misplaced jaw (again, showing too much). It just felt a little campy to be honest. Also, the ending. What the heck was up with it? I mean, that's it? It feels.... incomplete.

The non-linear structure was pretty cool, though. I liked how the movie gave you no visual cues when it went through a time skip. It really kept the viewer on their toes and made them pay much more attention to the movie than they probably would have otherwise. Also, although it was not consistently so, I found some scenes to be very freaky. The death rattle and cat noises were also used to great effect. I imagine someone who is a little more prone to horror movies would overlook some of the more ridiculous portions and find The Grudge sufficiently scary. It certainly tried hard, I will give it that.

That's very close to my thoughts on the film. I notice about Japanese horror films (the American remake was done by Takashi Shimizu, who directed the original Ju-on) that precisely because they rarely show on-screen violence in favor of psychological suspense terror, they don't mind being a bit campy in showing the results of violence or with their plots. Certainly this is the case with films like Uzumaki ("Spiral") and Audition. I notice Shimizu has a distinct talent for ruthlessly exposing the ineffectiveness of our electronic security blankets, which combined with the declining status of, and anger against, Americans in a globalized age form two major subtexts of the film. I also admired the way the film brought Japanese folklore and theater surrounding the onryo and applied it to contemporary contexts of violence against women, a very serious international issue effecting one in three women worldwide, according to UNIFEM, even as it remains a relatively cloak and dagger form of patriarchal coercion. For those not in the know, onryo are vengeful female ghosts seeking retribution for fatal ill-treatment, typically at the hands of their husbands, although their furious modus operandi often wipes out innocent bystanders in the process (yes, these stories exemplify the wild, irrational side of rage). I remember slightly embarrassing my horror movie instructor -- at least, I think she was embarrassed, the way she had locked herself into the ice queen stereotype made it very difficult to read her reactions -- when I pointed this out. At the time, she was holding this thesis that Japanese horror's interest in feminine monstrosity was a new and sudden thing catalyzed by a culture shift toward a greater number of female births, so that 'suddenly, little girls are scary.' To be sure, Japanese horror absorbs much of the culture shock surrounding changing gender roles with, in my view, the directors occupying the no-man's land between patriarchal traditionalism and outright feminism. Here in America, I think much of the appeal of Japanese horror has owed to its approach to gender and technology, as well as its fashionable revival of Gothic horror and the aesthetics of terror by way of the cultural mystique of orientalism. That being said, The Grudge is a film that has had a lasting influence on my over the last couple of years, and combined with The Ring has solidified my confidence in the contemporary viability and relevance of Gothic horror.

[Scarecrow]

Friday the 13th... the new one... and it sucked >.> Never saw the old one but it had to better than this to be considered such a classic.

[the_wolfs_howl]

I imagine someone who is a little more prone to horror movies would overlook some of the more ridiculous portions and find The Grudge sufficiently scary.

*raises hand* Yup, that's me. I think the reason I found the movie so scary was because it never let you feel safe. The most traumatizing part, I think, was with the blanket. Going under the covers is supposed to make you feel safe, but I couldn't even look under there for a long time afterward. Nor could I take a shower without a shudder or two. Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I like being able to be scared thoroughly rather than just laugh like many horror movie fans seem to.

Anyway, I just got Toy Story from the library, so I'll probably be watching the special features of that. Should be interesting!

[GhostontheNet]

Tonight I watched Suspiria.

*raises hand* Yup, that's me. I think the reason I found the movie so scary was because it never let you feel safe. The most traumatizing part, I think, was with the blanket. Going under the covers is supposed to make you feel safe, but I couldn't even look under there for a long time afterward. Nor could I take a shower without a shudder or two. Maybe I'm just a wimp, but I like being able to be scared thoroughly rather than just laugh like many horror movie fans seem to.

Yep, sounds like Takashi Shimizu landed his point in the most direct fashion possible. Having ruthlessly exposed the inefficacy of our modernist electronic security blankets against the supernatural threat, he goes for the jugular and takes out the original security blanket. In psychoanalytic terms, this should not surprise us, as the desire to curl up in the fetal position under the womblike "safety" of the blanket when faced with danger also implies the returning menace of the devouring archaic mother. I wouldn't worry too much about laughing horror fans. A lot of people laugh about things that really bother them, and for different reasons. In my experience, even most horror fans have a particular segment of the genre that they will not watch, that really bothers them, and that they will react violently against. With my friend Meg, it's zombies, because she attended a screening of Night of the Living Dead where a bunch of rowdy boys cheered on the zombies as they tore women to pieces. Actually, after getting taken to task by feminists for gender stereotypes in this, his directorial debut, George A. Romero has been one of the most gender-conscious auteurs in the horror genre. My friend Amy, meanwhile, loves zombies, but can't handle horror films with an occult menace for fear of real demonic influence through these means. Naturally, we've had a good discussion about Rupolph Otto's theories in The Idea of the Holy, where I pointed out such elements of the taboo ("charged with power") are not properly demonic, but daemonic in the sense they are a symbolically unmapped heterogeneous mixture of benevolent and hostile powers. In all cases of Christian horror spectatorship, I recommend an approach of courage through grace as a way of dealing with the material we are presented. Regrettably, this is precisely what I have not seen in my current experience watching horror films with women, observing they frequently resort to the fifth look ("look away"), and, to date, two hysterical breakdowns. I do not blame this tendency on some essentialist idea of 'the way women are', but upon our culture's failure to engender the virtue of courage in women as a way of encouraging patriarchal submission. So too, I look forward to the opportunity to watch horror with some gutsier ladies. As such, if you can work on building up your courage rather than simply internalizing the idea that you are a "wimp", I'm sure you will find the horror genre to be well worth your while. Indeed, it will help you to understand God's grace in a way you never knew.

[Warrior 4 Jesus]

Are you guys talking about The Grudge, the Japanese original or the American remake? I've seen the original and it was creepy as anything. Especially the blanket scene and the staircase scene towards the end. Oh gosh!
The American remake of The Ring was very good, although I haven't seen the original.
I watched Dark Water. I've seen both versions but I actually enjoyed the American remake over the original (in almost all cases). One 'reveal' was announced too early on and killed some of the suspense or creepiness. But again, this movie terrified me!

I watched P.S. I Love You at the recommendation of some of my female friends. Sorry to say I thought it was crap. Then I watched Evan Almighty. It was pretty mediocre but very cool to see a life-size version of the ark.

[Barracuda777]

thank you brother. p.s i love you is a lame.... i just watched G.I JOE . it has some really good special effects

[GhostontheNet]

Tonight I watched Charlotte's Web.

Are you guys talking about The Grudge, the Japanese original or the American remake? I've seen the original and it was creepy as anything. Especially the blanket scene and the staircase scene towards the end. Oh gosh!
The American remake of The Ring was very good, although I haven't seen the original.
I watched Dark Water. I've seen both versions but I actually enjoyed the American remake over the original (in almost all cases). One 'reveal' was announced too early on and killed some of the suspense or creepiness. But again, this movie terrified me!

In the present discussion, we are talking about the American film The Grudge. For future reference, if we are talking about the Japanese original, we should refer to it as Ju-on, the original Japanese title and the title it was marketed with here in the 'States. I also saw Dark Water, and rather liked it.

[Scarecrow]

Blood: The Last Vampire (Live Action version)... I thought it was boring and not very interesting. Never saw the animated version but if it was like this, I'm not missing anything. It was cheaply made, boring, just blah. I can hardly tell you what the story line was cause I had a hard time staying focused.

[Bobtheduck]

I'm mostly watching the American movies that come on Korean TV... It's mostly B rated action movies and horror movies, actually. There was this one movie about an underwater cave, though I didn't finish it. There was a movie with Steven Segal where his daughter was taken by this woman who was protecting her from being killed by someone who was after him (Steven Segal's character) I don't remember what it was called, and I don't know if I watched the whole thing...

I watched the end of Spiderman 3. There's some vampire movie on now, and a guy with white eyes just staked a girl vampire. Wizard of Oz is also on right now. And the Rear Window remake with Shia Le Beof is on right now.

I don't recognize most of the movies that come on TV here, though.

[ich1990]

Well, in the TV realm I have watched Stargate Universe episodes 1-5.

It sucks. The big budget special effects are cool, and the music is as well (except it has picked up the annoying habit of playing American pop/drama songs during critical operations -- likely from the popular medical dramas), but the attempts at drama are overwhelming to the point of absurdity, and the characters, even Dr. Rush at times, are whiny and incompetent sissies. And there is the weird dude who is supposedly a Christian yet sleeps with the ship's girls quite regularly.

In spite of all this, every time I go to give up watching it, Dr. Rush does something very cool and sinister and I am drawn into the next episode. Take the end of episode five, for example. I was surprised he didn't see how they were going to get out of their predicament. Then I realized he did. Very cool (although totally pointless. I guess that just seems to be how things go down in this show.)

My inner Stargate fan is not happy. Thankfully, I still have a few seasons of Atlantis to go through yet.

[Bobtheduck]

This wasn't recent, but I saw the first Higurashi live action movie (which was Keiichi's arc, aka the first arc)

Long story short: It's crap. The girls are all too old, you can't tell anyone apart (they should have at LEAST kept the hairstyles from EVERY OTHER INCARNATION), the [spoiler]hallucinations[/spoiler] are way too obvious, the music gives things away that it shouldn't, and the "Uso da!" scene was trying to mimic the VN which just doesn't translate into live action. If they'd mimicked the anime, it would have been 100x better. I nearly soiled myself the first time watching "Uso da!" on the anime, but the movie version made me laugh.

I haven't seen Rena's arc movie yet. Maybe it will be better. I'm kind of looking forward to seeing the bat vs hatchet on top of the school in live action. From what I've seen so far, though, I REALLY think this is an instance I could have done better, and I don't say that lightly.

[Roy Mustang]

Last night on TCM, I watch Topaz. Alfred Hitchcock tale of global intrigue stars John Forsythe as a CIA agent who teams with French spy Frederick Stafford to uncover Soviet activities in Cuba circa 1962.

Its not a bad movie, but its not one of Hichcock's best movie.


[color="Red"][font="Book Antiqua"]Col. Roy Mustang[/font][/color]

[Doubleshadow]

I've been watching documentaries lately. I feel as though my interests have become to insular. I recently watched on on wolf recovery in Idaho, and another on the mathematics behind the restoration of the Parthenon.

[Htom Sirveaux]

I just finished watching The Machinist. Wow. That was great. It's kinda like Lost Highway, if Lost Highway made a shred of sense.

[Bobtheduck]

I just finished watching The Machinist. Wow. That was great. It's kinda like Lost Highway, if Lost Highway made a shred of sense.

I was watching it in my old dorm (in 2005) and had one of my roommates tell me it was "A ripoff of Fight Club" (this was before I saw Fight Club)

I think the Machinist was a great story. It's one of those movies that sort of feels like Silent Hill, and was similar to SH2 in part of the story, even...

[ShiroiHikari]

Continuing on in my tour of PG-13 horror (well, this one is more like suspense) movies.

The Others

It was very, very good. Complaint first, though. At times I thought the music swelled at the wrong times leading one to believe something was about to happen then..... nothing. This could be used to great effect but wasn't, at least in my opinion.

Now the good parts. Since Ghost and I have been discussing the role of main protagonists in these sorts of films, I would like to point to Grace Stewart (Nicole Kidman's character) as a shining example of everything I could ask for in such a role. She made an effort to behave logically and not succumb to fear (although the logical world was being pulled out from underneath her)]Of course there is also the twist ending, which I approve of. Although, I have to say that sometimes I find the more subtle twists are more effective than the earth shattering ones.[/spoiler]

Finally, I should mention that this film derides the director's version of the Catholic faith pretty directly. I am not Catholic, so I don't know how accurate his view of it is, but I got the feeling it was a good ways off.

Overall, I was very impressed with this movie. If you like Victorian mysteries or nuanced psychological thrillers, you should really go watch this movie. It is definitely worth it.

The Others is one of my favorite films. It's a great period piece (though it actually takes place just after World War II rather than Victorian times), it's moody and suspenseful, and the ending is actually moving rather than just being a twist for the sake of a twist. Nicole Kidman really gained my respect as an actress because of this film, too.

Let's see, what have I watched lately...I finally got around to seeing Army of Darkness. It was fun, but I didn't enjoy it THAT much, probably because I heard people repeating the one-liners ad nauseam for years and years.

Also saw The Omen; it was alright but it didn't hold up well over time, and something about it just...wasn't suspenseful or compelling enough to me. It wasn't unintelligent, and it wasn't incompetently acted, it just...didn't hook me, I guess.

Oh yeah, and a few weeks ago I saw The Taking of Pelham 123-- the remake with Denzel Washington and John Travolta. It was decent but the cinematography style REALLY irritated me-- too much blurry slow-mo and too many quick cuts. It felt like watching a music video, and not in a good way.

[ich1990]

Lately I have been watching the television show Castle, which is a reasonably entertaining murder-comedy. Basically, people die and that one guy who was in Firefly wisecracks about it. This second season has been much better than the first.

The Others is one of my favorite films. It's a great period piece (though it actually takes place just after World War II rather than Victorian times), it's moody and suspenseful, and the ending is actually moving rather than just being a twist for the sake of a twist. Nicole Kidman really gained my respect as an actress because of this film, too.

Ah, thanks for pointing that out. I actually meant to refer to the house and grounds (the set) as Victorian, not the era. Then again, it would have been pretty awesome to have shotguns back then. Maybe then Pride and Prejudice would have been more interesting.

[Htom Sirveaux]

I was watching it in my old dorm (in 2005) and had one of my roommates tell me it was "A ripoff of Fight Club" (this was before I saw Fight Club)

Man, I can't stand it when people say Movie A is "a ripoff of Movie B." There's so many films out there, a few of them are bound to overlap in theme or content to some degree. One might as well say Titanic was a ripoff of The Poseidon Adventure, because they both take place on cruise ships.

I think the Machinist was a great story. It's one of those movies that sort of feels like Silent Hill, and was similar to SH2 in part of the story, even...

Oddly enough, I found out about it on recommendation from someone on a Silent Hill forum site to which I owe a great deal of good viewing and reading.

[Makachop^^128]

We are watching all the star wars ^^

[GhostontheNet]

Tonight I watched Northanger Abbey.

[RobinSena]

Yesterday I watched Tampopo. Very good movie, and it also made me quite hungry.

[Makachop^^128]

Tonight I watched Northanger Abbey.

Good movie!:sweat:

[ich1990]

The Last Samurai

If watching Gladiator makes you more manly, and watching The Patriot makes you more heroic, then watching The Last Samurai makes you more honorable.

In this viewing, I noticed that there is more than a little of Kierkegaard's philosophy in this movie. In fact, when one thinks about it, the Samurai are not only above the aesthetic level of existence, they are above the ethical as well. By being wholly committed to their "honor" and the Emperor, even going so far as to have their whole existence defined by that commitment.... well, it is hard to think of them as anything but Knights of Faith. This makes them closer kin to (true) Christians than most other beings on the planet.

While the movie's message and the Samurai ethos aren't exactly aligned with that of Christian morality, the idea of being completely and totally committed to one's beliefs certainly does.

The Last Samurai is a fantastic movie, and is one that I do not watch nearly often enough.

[GhostontheNet]

Earlier I watched Nosferatu the Vampyre and Mr. Bean's Holiday with my friend Amy, and tonight I watched The Fountain.

[ich1990]

2012

I have to admit that I had too high of expectations for this movie. It wasn't really terrible, but the director fell into a trap that swallows many big budget CGI movie makers; he tried to make the movie mean something. In pursuit of this goal, he spends the entire first hour of the movie painfully attempting to develop characters. It doesn't really work, partly because of writing and partially because of the acting.

Once beyond that, however, the movie gets much better and the whole world blows up quite prettily (except for the Drankensberg Mountains, interestingly) and a few billion people die.

I would put it on par with G.I. Joe, to give you some perspective, although the campy humor humor and non stop action of the G.I. Joe put it above 2012 in pure enjoyment.