Last film you watched and your rating

Skarjo wrote:See, I like Scream. I know a lot of people don't, but I think the way it plays with the genre is more effective than some people give it credit for. I mean, I'm probably biased because when you watch as many horror movies as I do, the barometer of what separates the good from the gooseberry fool does get somewhat skewed. It's not the best; for that you'd need to look at Feast or Cabin in the Woods or Leslie Vernon, but I think as arguably the progenitor of the post-modern horror wave it got a lot right, and made the right points.

See, now you just don't gooseberry fool about horror then.

I'll gladly own up to that as it's not a genre that particularly interests me, or rather that 95% of the examples I watch I find tedious. We've been over Cabin In The Woods enough times and my story remains the same; it concerns itself with referencing/acknowledging and attempting to subvert genre tropes that it forgets to do anything novel outside of one really good setpiece halfway in and an admittedly fun finale. I truly felt annoyed in the cinema when Richard Jenkins (either him or the other guy) sighs that why can't be a Merman for once, and in making this commentary the film was then putting me through another twenty minutes of boring strawberry floating zombie film. Just let it be a Merman, quit the arsing about.

I really liked Curse of Chucky if that counts for anything. That was really playful, had some great setpieces and even retained a surprising amount of tension for the first half before it got all Chucky.

I saw Scream when it was released and loved it. It just felt different to the horror/slasher movies that I had seen up to that point and I hadn't really seen a "knowing" or "meta" film before.

It is not as good nowadays and the surprise factor of Scream was taken away by all the clones that came in its wake. Maybe you just had to be there at the time?

Skarjo wrote:See, I like Scream. I know a lot of people don't, but I think the way it plays with the genre is more effective than some people give it credit for. I mean, I'm probably biased because when you watch as many horror movies as I do, the barometer of what separates the good from the gooseberry fool does get somewhat skewed. It's not the best; for that you'd need to look at Feast or Cabin in the Woods or Leslie Vernon, but I think as arguably the progenitor of the post-modern horror wave it got a lot right, and made the right points.

And I think that's largely fair, because it was specifically written to fans of the genre as a criticism of it. So, if you're not necessarily particularly well-versed with the tropes it is subverting or the references being made therein then the way it goes about subverting might not seem as novel or interesting. I suppose that's why I prefer Shaun of the Dead to Hot Fuzz (and seem relatively alone in this).

Also, Curse of Chucky was surprisingly great I thought. Balanced being playful, traditional and post modern all at once, which is no mean feat.

Skarjo wrote: I suppose that's why I prefer Shaun of the Dead to Hot Fuzz (and seem relatively alone in this).

You're not alone. I prefer SoTD to Hot Fuzz.

Oh no, I'm well-versed in the tropes, I just have no interest in something that makes subversion its primary goal. I find it ages a film badly, and can only be enjoyed for a brief window of time before it hits irrelevance. The same applies to any film that deals with a topical issue but has no depth beyond that; if there aren't some universal themes, characters or motifs to attach to then it has no shelf life. Cabin is an example of something (like Scream) to me that substituted these things with commentary on timely subjects that is quickly no longer relevant in the discussion.

I disagree that Cabin doesn't offer those things. I think the cast, script and characters are great, and other than a few lines of heavily sermonising dialogue at the end I think it stands up as a horror-comedy, and I don't think it will age as badly as you suggest. But again, I'm probably biased, so I guess time will tell, but I definitely don't think Jason X is a more effective meta-horror. It's walks a good line between horror and outright parody, but it's still just a tongue in cheek horror.

Who got Skarjo started on Cabin in the Woods? :fp:

Me, technically.

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The Wolf of Wall Street

Leo's voicebox must have been a complete wreck by the end of filming o_o

9/10

I love Scream and I'm not particularly a horror fan, although I did watch quite a lot as a teenager, not that I'm suggesting it's a genre for adolescents of course. My point is that I don't think you have to be a horror fan to get Scream.

Skarjo wrote:It's also got the nitro-smash kill, which was actually a pretty awesome scene.

One of the best death scenes ever. I was in awe the first time I watched it as it's proper brutal & in your face moment.(no pun intended).

I've even bothered to find to find it.

The Iron Giant 9/10 I'm gonna make a habit of watching this at least once a year. A damn near perfect animated movie and still the best performance Vin Diesel will ever give. "You stay. I go. No following." Who put all these strawberry floating onions here?

I watch it twice a week. Still gets me

Spring Breakers 6/10 I think I liked it, but wish the characters had a bit more to them.

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Run Lola Run

Had no idea it was going to show multiple alternate realities, I love that style of storytelling. Enjoyed it quite a bit!

8/10

Man Of Steel 2/10

What a boring shitty movie. I am not even entirely sure what happened. The best fight was the very first one, all the rest were rubbish, and the non action was boring. Whenever Zod said "Kal", it sounded like Eric from SouthPark saying "Kyle", which was the highlight for me.

What a gooseberry fool movie.

Caught up on Frozen and Tangled this weekend.

It's odd, they're both really good, and both have almost polar strengths and weaknesses.

Frozen was the better movie, I reckon. It's strange, because this is so rarely the case, but it's one of the few movies where there was so much going on that I just wanted to spend more time with the whole cast and story. But, there being so much going on was a weakness, but almost an accidental one. They created so many great characters and gave them such different motivations and storylines that I frankly wanted to spend more time getting to explore them. As such, for the first 2/3rds of the movie, it all seemed too whistlestop. Then, the final third seemed to drag as it tried to wrap everything up.

Tangled was simpler, which worked in its favour. It was more streamlined.

Last film you watched and your rating

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