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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:07 am:   

My lord! No swooshy-whooshing, no manic editing, no 'things running in front of the camera'. If these were the oly things to admire about the film I'd be pretty pleased, but no; this movie is quite subtle for this sort of thing, quite restrained. It even has several quite moving scenes that don't have dialogue, and quite a touchingly played relationship and glimpse of family life that feels a bit real. It's not perfect but has the feel of something like a mini-classic to be. All it needed was a bit more skill in the direction, a little more nuance. But considering it's from the director of House of Wax it's a quantum leap.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:12 am:   

Gawd, I thought it was Orphul. But then, I thought Drag Me to Hell was pretty bad,
and everyone tells me that it's the best horror film of the decade, so what do I know?
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:18 am:   

Oh, it wasn't great, but it tried to break free from a lot of current cliche I felt.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:27 am:   

Oh don't worry about my crappy opinion, Tony - my taste in films is pretty old-fashioned.

In truth, Orphan wasn't that bad, really; only two things spoiled it for me:

1. The way the expert from the Institute did the ol' exposition routine, and
2. The Aliens-like line which was delivered by Kate as she dispatched Esther to an icy grave.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:32 am:   

I sort of think it held together better than Drag Me to Hell, actually.
My only wish was that the girl was a little more sympathetic; it always works better when the bad guy is somone you can almost root for, as in Hand that Rocks the Cradle, the sub genre this film belongs to.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:33 am:   

Yep, I agree, mate.

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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:36 am:   

Ebert says; http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20090722/REVIEWS/90722 9993
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 11:48 am:   

In fairness, I should have mentioned that I thought the actors, especially Vera Farmiga, did a fine job.
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Niki Flynn (Niki)
Username: Niki

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.32.69.29
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 01:26 pm:   

A friend of mine who can't handle horror films told me she liked it a lot, which made me wonder what I'd think of it. It certainly can't be very scary if she liked it! LOL I'm seeing it next week regardless.

@Steve - I think Drag Me To Hell is WAAAAY overrated if it's being touted as the best horror film of the decade. I thought it was all flash and no substance. Too obvious and completely UNscary. Fun in a trashy way, but definitely not "good" by horror standards.

And good old Roger Ebert - I usually trust his opinions. He knows how to tell you enough about the film without spoiling it to let you decide whether or not you'd like it. I love the last line in his review:

"Do not, under any circumstances, take children to see it. Take my word on this."
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 01:49 pm:   

I think the problem lies with me, Niki. I tend to be all po-faced & serious about horror , and sadly there's precious little subtlety in modern horror films. And to be fair, Drag Me To Hell doesn't take itself too seriously. I've seen better acting on The Sooty Show but that's to be expected from something aimed directly at the box office, lol.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.253.174.81
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 01:57 pm:   

I'm sure Miss Flynn (and our other members from overseas) would appreciate an explanation of The Sooty Show Mr Jensen!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 02:06 pm:   

I think my problem is I've seen so much rubbish horror of late that this one shone a bit. It had a good try.
Maybe, nikki, your friend was responding to the fact that character was given a bit bigger shrift in this one? There was a lovely love-making scene in it that made the audience laugh for all the right reasons.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 02:06 pm:   



From Wikipedia:

The Sooty Show is a British children's television series that aired on the BBC from 1955 to 1992. It features the glove puppet characters Sooty, Sweep and Soo, and follows them in their many mischievous adventures.
The show's surreal mise-en-scène and bizarre characters are said to influenced Salvador Dali's later works and the Symbolist poetry of Steve Jensen's shopping list. Ok, so I made that last bit up.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.253.174.81
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 02:18 pm:   

The review I've read of this says that it's all "very entertaining, even the terrible bits" and I do enjoy movies that are terribly entertaining, or even entertainingly terrible. Plus because it's from the director of the House of Wax remake I'm going to go in with low expectations. Comments on here in due course I suspect.
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Niki Flynn (Niki)
Username: Niki

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.32.69.29
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 02:21 pm:   

Eagerly awaited, Lord P.

And thanks, Steve.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 02:43 pm:   

It felt like it was directred by a human after HOW, Lord P. You know, for the most part. It does a good thing of making a modern playground a bit scary, which I always felt them to be.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.4.255.152
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 04:03 pm:   

Well, I'm in the minority for liking the remake of House of Wax, so maybe I'll like this one too....

I've learned not to go seeking horror, just campy fun - if I get horror on the side, great, a bonus. It's pointless to seek something sublime in mass-market Hollywood fare.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 04:08 pm:   

I agree.
I enjoyed House of Wax a bit, you know; it had creepy moments, but then structurally it sort of went on too long.
Yeah; a bonus. Sad, isn't it? Will there ever be another Innocents, or even Shockwaves?
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.4.255.152
Posted on Monday, August 10, 2009 - 04:25 pm:   

Tony, I'm holding out hope for THE ANTICHRIST. But I don't want to fall into high-expectations syndrome, so I'm trying to keep those desires on the down-low....

Sad, isn't it? Will there ever be another Innocents, or even Shockwaves?

For all my being rather lax with remakes/adapts, and liking them for the efforts, for the camp, etc. - to think about Hollywood attempting THE TURN OF THE SCREW again, does put me into a kind of state of loathing.... Though Herzog's NOSFERATU does have a certain something that worked, and didn't detract from its original... I guess it's possible....
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 82.4.20.22
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 01:19 am:   

Was faced with a choice between 'Antichrist' and 'North By Northwest' at the flicks tonight.

I went to the one that doesn't have a dull second in it... bloody marvellous!
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Mick Curtis (Mick)
Username: Mick

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.177.118.49
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 02:02 am:   

Ooh, I've only seen NORTH BY NORTHWEST at the cinema once - 'twas a great evening, and it remains a real favourite.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.16.87.86
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 04:06 am:   

I've never really taken to NORTH BY NORTHWEST. I admire some sequences, and I fully realize how utterly respected and famous and all it is... but the plot I found tedious, the whole rather strained, Cary Grant difficult to take... maybe I should see it yet again... I'll put it way down there on my queueue....
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 09:17 am:   

Does it feel too mechanical? None of the 'world building' Proto mentioned? Sometimes Hitch neglected to cover that side of things - it's just for the most part we never got time to notice.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.81.254
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 11:28 am:   

There's no depth to NbNW, it's just (!) good fun, but without much re-watch value.
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Stephen Walsh (Stephenw)
Username: Stephenw

Registered: 03-2009
Posted From: 194.72.14.113
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 01:15 pm:   

Splutter... well that's the 5th time I've watched it (first on the big screen) and it remains an endlessly entertaining high water mark of popular cinema for me.
Every scene is a classic - lovely use of colour too!
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 04:22 pm:   

I think NBNW feels quite dreamlike. It seems shiny but has some quite scary aspects. And I loved it when Murtaugh pulled the legged house down using the truck.
Ulf - wrong movie.
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.74
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 04:25 pm:   

I think North by Northwest is by far the greatest comedy thriller I've ever seen, and it has moral substance too.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 04:31 pm:   

It also preceded Ian Fleming's hopes when he helped develop Man From UNCLE; that an ordinary person be sucked into the story. UNCLE went on to do that every week; and it worked.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 04:47 pm:   

I was rather bothered about the implicit racism of Drag Me To Hell & Orphan - the portayal of Eastern Europeans as strange, culturally-'backward' and malicious. In these days when, for example, emigrant Romanians are depicted in the media as heartless thieves and beggars, I wonder at the timing and message these movies send out.

Though I guess this is nothing particularly new, and my problem with these films is a result of that curse/blessing of the modern mindset ie PC-tinted glasses. Of course, one could counter that Westerners disguise their natural savagery with the cosmetic gloss of (supposed) sophistication...
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.152.216.8
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 05:02 pm:   

I agree, Steve. We need to find a way of externalising issues without projecting them onto other groups. I loathe PC. However, I do think it's good that people are expected to keep their prejudices to themselves until they can get over them. Maybe Western hypocrisy serves a good purpose?
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.152.216.8
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 05:07 pm:   

But then, how are we to challenge and understand our prejudices if we're not allowed talk about them? I suppose whether airing prejudices is good or not depends on whether the person involved wants to challenge or reinforce them?
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.4.251.80
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 06:32 pm:   

I think North by Northwest is by far the greatest comedy thriller I've ever seen, and it has moral substance too.

Well, I wouldn't count my opinion anyway - I am but mad north by northwest as it is.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.47
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 06:36 pm:   

I don't like this assumption of racism because a character happens to be nasty and is a certain ethnic group.

I remember when Cracker did a brilliant story where one of the two rapists in the story was black and there was a huge outcry lambasting the series. Forget the fact that there was a white rapist there as well. It was disgusting and racist to have a black man who was less than morally impeccable. That's blatantly not true. If people had watched the show instead of shouting RACISM, they would have gained sympathy for the character when his motivations were revealed. The white rapist, however, remained a complete bastard till his suicide in a later episode.

Even in Coronation street there was an outcry when they introduced a petty thief who happened to be black. Apparently, you're setting the race relations whatevers back by ten years if you portray a black thief on telly.

To try to suggest that every portrayal of other ethnic groups has to show perfect and morally superior beings is racist in itself. It says that only the white people are capable of being thieves or rapists etc.

There was a series of anti-crime adverts recently - "You wouldn't advertise your house/car etc to theives" where assorted characters were shown showing thieves how to rob their houses/cars etc. In most of them the victims were coloured and the thief was always white. I remember thinking that these adverts would be banned if the colour mix was the other way round. Surely, if equality exists, it's not racist to show a black thief. You're not saying that all thieves are black, you're saying that THIS thief is black.

I'm struggling to think of the last black villain in any mainstream tv show/soap.

Rant over.

And relax...
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 07:07 pm:   

Thing is, people from eastern europe DO have a mystique about them! Also, when the characters in the film rang the place in Russia or wherever the people were completely ordinary and sophisticated, not some cave folk with a tin can with string through it. I do, however, understand, that the use of particular ethnicity can be used to mock or criticise, but surely this doesn't mean it can't ever be used for imaginative/creative reasons? Eastern Europe touches some deep nerve with us, and it's not funny, it's some family-tree mystery, something dreamy.
Ha - I was slightly with the BNP leader on ONE thing; the black Friar Tuck. It was just distracting, self-conscious.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 07:07 pm:   

Er, the people at the other end of the phone.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 07:09 pm:   

This said, I did loathe the huge slew of English villains in hollywood movies for a while... But then it's been balanced by all the great and interesting English characters of late - blah blah etc.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 07:13 pm:   

Well I did hint that my perspective (on the supposed 'racism' in the two films) was probably flawed...
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 07:15 pm:   

Funny thing is, we're not saying it's unreasonable that only mad folk should be the bad guys...
:S
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Tuesday, August 11, 2009 - 07:27 pm:   

A couple of years ago a well-to-do neighbour of ours took in a Russian student. Within weeks she had set up a massive dvd piracy production network from their pc. It was like a factory in there.
People are just people, but sometimes there are OK reasons for stereotypes and fears, and in their shoes we might well agree with their motives.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 89.19.81.75
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 12:14 am:   

"I was slightly with the BNP leader on ONE thing; the black Friar Tuck. It was just distracting, self-conscious."

But educated monks travelled quite a lot and over considerable distances.

"A couple of years ago a well-to-do neighbour of ours took in a Russian student. Within weeks she had set up a massive dvd piracy production network from their pc. It was like a factory in there."

Scroll upwards in this very thread and you'll see someone providing a link to watch the film ORPHAN online, in violation of copyright.
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Joel (Joel)
Username: Joel

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 91.110.227.34
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 01:26 am:   

I thought the witch in DRAG ME TO HELL was just an angry woman who'd taken enough shit, and was maybe taking it out on the wrong person and maybe not. I couldn't take the lamia stuff seriously though, so perhaps I wasn't thinking that aspect of it through.

I think you can get a sense of when the portrait of an disturbed or dangerous character is genuinely culturally sensitive and when it may be based on stereotyping. I didn't think CANDYMAN was racist, for example, but I do think THE SKELETON KEY was. Big time. It comes down to whether the integrity of the characters is recognised.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.152.220.179
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 01:41 am:   

"I didn't think CANDYMAN was racist, for example, but I do think THE SKELETON KEY was."

Why's that?
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Ramsey Campbell (Ramsey)
Username: Ramsey

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 195.93.21.74
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 08:04 am:   

"Scroll upwards in this very thread and you'll see someone providing a link to watch the film ORPHAN online, in violation of copyright."

I hadn't noticed. Please delete at once.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.132.170.85
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 09:33 am:   

'But educated monks travelled quite a lot and over considerable distances'
Proto - you've just eductaed me. Of course they did. Bye Bye single atom-sized BNP affiliation! :-)

Oh yes, that link was iffy. Those sites are shocking.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 78.152.215.81
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 11:24 am:   

Wow, someone changing someone else's opinion! When does that ever happen?
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 11:57 am:   

Apologies for posting the link to DMTH. What I thought was a quick & convenient way to enable people who hadn't seen the film to actually watch it here now was, in retrospect, ill-advised.

Sorry, folks.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 11:58 am:   

*That should have read:'...to Orphan', not Drag Me To Hell.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 212.121.214.11
Posted on Wednesday, August 12, 2009 - 12:56 pm:   

What's going on? I had a rant on a normally contentious topic and didn't get lambasted as usual. I think I need to go for a lie down.
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John Llewellyn Probert (John_l_probert)
Username: John_l_probert

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.253.174.81
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 02:45 pm:   

Well I watched this last night and thought it was rather fun in its 'this is all very, very silly but let's play it seriously' kind of way. The horror prospector in me was sufficiently satisfied with a few really good bits that the total and utter daftness of other parts were forgiven, including the bits that made no sense, not particularly sympathetic main characters and some horrible production design. But even those in their own way added to the merriment. Maybe my expectations were very low but I enjoyed this a lot more than Drag Me To Hell
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.152.191.22
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:16 pm:   

I think because in Drag I sensed, to quote Just a Minute, some hesitation on Raimi's behalf. This largely didn't. I just wish films felt a bit more bloody ethereal and unworldly. Never happens now, that, in anything.
Went to see Time Traveller's Wife; it felt like he was only jaunting a few yards down the block, there was no sense of what he felt about time travelling, what he saw. He never said how he felt. It had some beautiful, really atmospheric locations I actually remember more than the film. I kept wanting a different film to be shot in them. Dull, sadly, but beautiful.
I loved the girl in the Orphan. Part of me was rooting for her. :-(
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.152.191.22
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:16 pm:   

While watching it I kept having the idea that David Cronenberg might have made it more interesting.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.4.243.169
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:23 pm:   

I just wish films felt a bit more bloody ethereal and unworldly.

AMEN, Tony!
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:39 pm:   

Sadly, in most modern ('popular') films, atmosphere is only created to set up 'jump moments' rather than for more intellectually and emotionally-valid reasons. There's little subtlety or true unease/menace anymore, and a film's atmosphere is merely an afterthought to these accountants in the guise of film makers. Even rather straight-forward horrors like Drag Me To Hell & Orphan could have been so much more, despite their hackneyed premises.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.4.243.169
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:48 pm:   

Your comments, Steve, for some reason bring to mind HIGH PLAINS DRIFTER. There's a movie with rousing action, a simple plot, swagger, "cool"ness, any dolt could love it... and yet, the mysterious, the unease, the unknown, abounds... it can be done, it can be done, in any genre....
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 04:56 pm:   

You're right, of course, Craig. :-)

Still, it amazes me how many directors effectively sell their (artistic) souls in order to have a successful career;
for every genuine artist, there seems to be a thousand hacks.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.47
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 05:05 pm:   

"You're right, of course, Craig. "

Never ever say that to Craig again. You'll only encourage him. He gets all excited and makes a mess on his keyboard.
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Steve Jensen (Stevej)
Username: Stevej

Registered: 07-2009
Posted From: 82.0.77.233
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 05:06 pm:   

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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.47
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 05:07 pm:   

When he smiles and tries to laugh the drool is even worse than usual.
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Craig (Craig)
Username: Craig

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 75.5.5.224
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 05:32 pm:   

I need a Kleenex.

That's the thing about great "art" - not everyone can do it.

I love how people - taking Hollywood as an example - look in and say, "These guys suck! *I* could do that! That takes no talent! Any monkey's uncle could do that!", etc.

Then, when they're in, it's "No one gets me/I had a vision, it was ruined by [insert other]/Oh no, it's very very difficult to write a good script-make a good film/I got here by my skills alone," etc.

Wait... I'm lost... what point am I making?...
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.152.191.22
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 06:53 pm:   

While I was watching GI Joe I realised that the technical, constructive side of the head had taken over, in cinema generally. Even in the world, I suppose.
Yes Craig - stuff like The Paralax View, The Conversation. Thrillers, but haunted somehow.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 147.252.230.126
Posted on Monday, August 17, 2009 - 07:00 pm:   

I love this guy. Like his films, he's best when he's at his most pretentious.

"If I had in my hand an object which was indescribable, which could be any object, then presumably it could appear to be all things to all people. One person would think I were holding a cigarette, someone else would think it was a knife, someone else might think it's a flower; but if someone had something which could be infinitely ambiguous, then you'd have something which is truly magic, which every single person could interpret in their own way, to have some personal meaning which was unique to them."

http://www.horschamp.qc.ca/offscreen/Stanley.html

Watched HARDWARE for the first time in 19 years -- it still stands up, hasn't dated a jot.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.152.191.22
Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - 07:52 am:   

That's a great interview.
Never liked Hardware, switched Dust Devil off. I'll maybe give it another go because everyone else seems to like.
'This is what people don't understand about kids and horror movies. Ninety percent of the time kids are unlikely to get scared by Dracula or King Kong but are more likely to identify with the monster and basically turn it the other way- :-(
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 147.252.230.126
Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - 04:39 pm:   

Just listen to the commentary on DUST DEVIL -- it's the most jaw-dropping DVD extra I've encountered yet.
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Tony (Tony)
Username: Tony

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 86.152.191.22
Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - 04:44 pm:   

He seems interesting. Is there a good reason he's not directing? Is it because his subject matter isn't trendy or something?
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 147.252.230.126
Posted on Tuesday, August 18, 2009 - 07:01 pm:   

He got involved in the Russian-Afghanistan war when he was around 20 years old. His politics might have caused him trouble. He was going to direct THE ISLAND OF DOCTOR MOREAU but was fired after 4 days and (reportedly) broke into the set to sabotage the production.
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 81.96.240.106
Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 12:55 am:   

On the strength of his two features alone, Stanley is probably one of my favourite directors. HARDWARE is a bleak neo-nightmare and DUST DEVIL is simply one of the best films of the 90s. I read somewhere ages ago that these films represented part of a loose trilogy - "before" and "during" some kind of global meltdown. I'm still waiting for "after".

Regarding his version of MOREAU, apparently the studio hated his increasingly dark vision of the film (especially the "House of Pain") so they fired him. God, I'd love to have seen his film.
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 147.252.230.126
Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 01:38 pm:   

A doc on the making of this would be fantastic. From Island of Dr Moreau wiki:

"The screen-writer and original director Richard Stanley was fired from the film, which was believed to have been influenced by Val Kilmer and replaced by veteran director John Frankenheimer. He did, however, return to the set in full costume as one of the many human-animal hybrids, at Marlon Brando's request. Stanley later showed up at the film's wrap party where he ran into Kilmer, who was said to have apologized profusely for Stanley's removal from the film. Frankenheimer and Kilmer had an argument on-set, and reportedly got so heated, Frankenheimer had stated "I don't like Val Kilmer, I don't like his work ethic, and I don't want to be associated with him ever again".[1] Frankenheimer also reportedly clashed with Brando and the studio, as they were concerned with the direction he was taking the film.

Kilmer has stated that the time filming on-set was "crazy." He was served with divorce papers from his then-wife Joanne Whalley, Brando was dealing with the suicide of his daughter Cheyenne, as well as the implications of a French nuclear test near the atoll he owned.

David Thewlis skipped the film's premiere by choice."
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Zed (Gary_mc)
Username: Gary_mc

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 213.219.8.243
Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 02:29 pm:   

Have you seen the film? It's odd, but you can sense - lurking behind the images onscreen - the film that it could have been if Stanley had been left to complete it.
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Weber_gregston (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.176.105.47
Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 03:23 pm:   

Is that the film where Brando allegedly was naked from the waist down all the time they filmed to guarantee that they always did head and shoulder shots of him?
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Protodroid (Protodroid)
Username: Protodroid

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 147.252.230.126
Posted on Wednesday, August 19, 2009 - 03:43 pm:   

That's a great anecdote. I hope it's true. Haven't seen it, but will read the script -- Stanley's Hardware 2 script is very good so far. He's come the closest to a truly uncompromising punk vision of the future. He describes a ring of trash surrounding the Earth -- a labrador bounces off the windshield of a de-orbitting spacecraft, probably dumped garbage from a biological experiment.
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Weber (Weber_gregston)
Username: Weber_gregston

Registered: 03-2008
Posted From: 194.66.23.11
Posted on Friday, September 02, 2011 - 06:23 pm:   

I got round to watching Orphan last week. I thought (in the first half) that it would be much more effective if it was more subtle and the girl may or may not have been doing these nasty things - instead of the black and white portrayal of evil that we had from her.

If I'd written it I would have put in a twist ending where she's actually been set up for all the bad stuff by the son who's suffering a bad case of sibling rivalry.

But then the second half was such a masterclass in tension that I forgave the complete lack of subtlety.

Overall an easy 7.5 out of 10

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