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- GTP_Duke
I liked Brokeback Mountain. A lot. Not exactly in that way (though Heathbaby is pretty cute), but I thought it was a good story, well played and paced. I mean, we're talking about most of a person's adult life here.
With the hurricane remnants wiping out my weekend, we curled up with the big TV and some free on-demand horror from the cable company:
THEY - 7/10. Not exactly predictable, but not a single bit of broken ground, either. Competently-done genre horror that goes for atmosphere and glimpsed monstrosities rather than simple outright shock (this is a compliment). The main character is a psychology grad student overcoming some personal traumas, but other than that relatively stock characters do the time-honored horror movie dance of isolating themselves somewhere so they can be attacked by dream creatures from their childhoods. This movie had an opportunity to do something interesting with the nature of real insanity versus unbelievable reality, which it completely left lying on the table at the end. As it sits, it's neither a scary-but-real study of delusion nor a balls-out supernatural fright fest. Nonetheless, worth watching if you are looking for a decent horror flick to pass the time.
Silent Hill - 8/10. I've never played the games, and now I wish I had before seeing this movie. As a movie adaptation of a video game, it not only didn't suck (which is high praise enough), it managed to be an intriguing and suspenseful horror movie on its own merits. Unlike THEY, which should have kept its monsters inside the protagonist's head, Silent Hill is unapologetic supernatural horror fantasy. Nearly everything about it is well-executed with a few exceptions in the characterizations (Sean Bean's character is mostly pointless except to provide hands to dig up some info that might have been difficult to bring out otherwise, and to demonstrate the phase/world/whatever-shift between our world and the evil inside Silent Hill). It's a complement to the movie that I can imagine myself crapping my pants while playing the videogame in a dark room. While the fundamental question of "how the hell is all this happening" isn't really answered, you at least get most of the who and why behind it at the end, and there are lots of interesting little details that crop up throughout. I'd watch it again, definitely, but I may even want to go get the games and play them first.
Donnie Darko - 6/10... or 9/10? I'm still not sure. I didn't get to watch this straight through with no interruptions and so I may need to watch it again. This was not the Director's Cut, which some say is worse and some say is better. There is a book in this movie that is critical to any shred of understanding, and either I didn't pay enough attention, or they didn't cover it enough. Nonetheless, this is an intriguing study (again) of the nature of insanity and what it might really be. Donnie is a troubled teen suffering from borderline schizophrenia who is placed in a position to save the world from being trapped in a glitch in time. Other forces are acting behind the scenes as he slides away from what he knew as reality. It's not capital-H horror per se, but it is suspenseful and thought-provoking and entertaining. It's also a well-made cross-genre character study and full of respectful nods to all kinds of other movie genres. In the end it dwells in horror and suspense but is ultimately much more than just that.
With the hurricane remnants wiping out my weekend, we curled up with the big TV and some free on-demand horror from the cable company:
THEY - 7/10. Not exactly predictable, but not a single bit of broken ground, either. Competently-done genre horror that goes for atmosphere and glimpsed monstrosities rather than simple outright shock (this is a compliment). The main character is a psychology grad student overcoming some personal traumas, but other than that relatively stock characters do the time-honored horror movie dance of isolating themselves somewhere so they can be attacked by dream creatures from their childhoods. This movie had an opportunity to do something interesting with the nature of real insanity versus unbelievable reality, which it completely left lying on the table at the end. As it sits, it's neither a scary-but-real study of delusion nor a balls-out supernatural fright fest. Nonetheless, worth watching if you are looking for a decent horror flick to pass the time.
Silent Hill - 8/10. I've never played the games, and now I wish I had before seeing this movie. As a movie adaptation of a video game, it not only didn't suck (which is high praise enough), it managed to be an intriguing and suspenseful horror movie on its own merits. Unlike THEY, which should have kept its monsters inside the protagonist's head, Silent Hill is unapologetic supernatural horror fantasy. Nearly everything about it is well-executed with a few exceptions in the characterizations (Sean Bean's character is mostly pointless except to provide hands to dig up some info that might have been difficult to bring out otherwise, and to demonstrate the phase/world/whatever-shift between our world and the evil inside Silent Hill). It's a complement to the movie that I can imagine myself crapping my pants while playing the videogame in a dark room. While the fundamental question of "how the hell is all this happening" isn't really answered, you at least get most of the who and why behind it at the end, and there are lots of interesting little details that crop up throughout. I'd watch it again, definitely, but I may even want to go get the games and play them first.
Donnie Darko - 6/10... or 9/10? I'm still not sure. I didn't get to watch this straight through with no interruptions and so I may need to watch it again. This was not the Director's Cut, which some say is worse and some say is better. There is a book in this movie that is critical to any shred of understanding, and either I didn't pay enough attention, or they didn't cover it enough. Nonetheless, this is an intriguing study (again) of the nature of insanity and what it might really be. Donnie is a troubled teen suffering from borderline schizophrenia who is placed in a position to save the world from being trapped in a glitch in time. Other forces are acting behind the scenes as he slides away from what he knew as reality. It's not capital-H horror per se, but it is suspenseful and thought-provoking and entertaining. It's also a well-made cross-genre character study and full of respectful nods to all kinds of other movie genres. In the end it dwells in horror and suspense but is ultimately much more than just that.
It's definitely an interesting movie, but I can't recall how many of my friends who simply get lost in the plot, or lack of.
. Haven't seen Jackie Brown yet 
.
But, I haven't seen Jackie Brown either.
