The Ring

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

This one just got me. My first viewing of this film in the cinema, opening night, I managed to convince my dad to take me even though it was a school night. I knew of the Japanese film but never managed to see it before its dvd release some months later. So I only had a vague idea of what it was about. My poor unsuspecting father had no idea at all. We both left the theatre physically shaking and neither of us slept that night. I have never been so scared by a film before or since that initial first screening.

I then made it a mission to find out everything I could about it. I became obsessed with the J-horror movement, I saw the japanese version, it's original sequel then the re-do of the sequel and the prequel, the korean version, I read the japanese novel and then eventually, the american sequel. None of them managed to capture the utter terror of that first viewing and I'm still trying to find it's equal.

By no means does this film work for everyone. There was sort of a perfect storm or ingredients that lead to that first screening, but it can play completely the opposite for people that were expecting something more teen slashery. At its heart, this is a mystery story and if you can't get involved then there's no helping you.

Once again, Gore Verbinski makes a film most unlike his others. This version is slickly produced with a hollywood budget, one thing I think even the purist fans of the original can't argue with. It looks absolutely stunning and has one of the best horror film scores of the last decade. Add to that a cast of great actors that really sell the drama and you have a winner in my book.

This one has a very special place in my heart. It's "the one to beat" and still nothing has come close.

To Die For

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

A great dark comedy that now seems atypical from director Gus Van Sant, with all it's fast cuts and quick transitions and rapid dialogue. Nothing like the minimalistic stuff he's been doing lately.

This has an awesome cast and definitely one of the best performances from Nicole Kidman ever. It's very funny and most enjoyable to watch unfold. Also the novelty of a young Joaquin Phoenix and Casey Affleck and of course a cameo by director David Cronenberg are appreciated too. A lot of fun.

Funny Games

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Speaking of 4th wall breakages.

This is one of my all time favourites. It would definitely be in my top 10. I'm a huge Michael Haneke fan. He does have a habit of being a intellectual elitist but not to the degree of, say, Peter Greenaway. He remade his own film 10 years later, shot for shot but in America. A strange exercise but still a great film. I like this one probably because I saw it first and know it better.

This is a great critique of the cavalier attitude to violence as depicted in films. It has all the classic horror film set ups and then proceeds to break any expectations of them being fulfilled. What's more it makes the audience reprehensible for watching the events take place and any pleasure or entertainment they may get out of them. Naughty Audience.

Now I love gratuitous violence. But this film does the very hard task of making a statement about violence but without actually depicting it gratuitously. The torment of the characters is there, perhaps even more effectively than a straight home invasion film, but all the violence is implied offscreen. Instead we linger on the aftermath which is almost more unbearable. The violence here has consequences and it hurts.

And the one spot where an act of violence is shown, it's against the "bad guys" and almost immediately undone by a very cruel act of playing with audience expectations.

As for the "bay guys" they are somewhat of an enigma and probably the most intriguing part of the film for me.

Watch this film. Do it. Then watch anything by Michael Haneke, I think he's a fascinating director.

Mulholland Drive

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

I think this is a good one to show as an intro into David Lynch. It has all his trademark stuff but I think it's slightly more accessible than some of his other films. Except maybe Blue Velvet but I neglected to take that on holiday with me.

Originally a tv pilot, and when you watch it you can practically see where the episode cliffhanger would end and the film takes off. Consequently there appear to be a lot of characters and plot threads undelt with, but that's never really been a concern of Lynch now has it.

He's not for everyone, but I like the uneasy moods he creates, mixed with some very funny moments and hilarious over sincerity that comes across to me as satirical. Looking for a concrete reading of events will never work, it's best to just let the film wash over you. And if that sounds to wanky and pretentious, well, it is, that's certainly an undeniable element of his work. But I find it's relatively easy to feel your way through should you choose to.

This is the film that made Naomi Watts. It's also the film where I became more than slightly obsessed with Justin Theroux. There's quite a host of colourful characters, many of whom would probably have been more important had the show gone to series.

This is also the last feature Lynch has done before he started working on digital and doing his online shorts and it doesn't look like he'll be returning any time soon, so treasure this one, Lynch lovers.

The NeverEnding Story

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Watched With: Amberly

Another favourite fantasy film from childhood and a great early work from Wolfgang Petersen. Every second of this is embedded in my brain somewhere. It has some great fantasy imagery, old school creature effects, very 80's score and some subtle 4th wall breakages. Okay, not that subtle, but more than most. I also like that they don't just let the kid from the real world fall into the fantasy relm, like every other kids film, his involvement in the story is much more intelligent than that.

What was neat watching it this time, and so close after watching Willow again, it was the first time I realised Urgl the Gnome and Fin Raziel the old sorceress are both played by Patricia Hayes. Trippy. Watching it on bluray was great too.

I don't know any girl who saw this at a young age that wasn't traumatised by Artex sinking into the Swamp. Unfortunately they have a much harder time conveying the ultimate villain of the story, which is somewhat of an abstract concept, the Nothing. It probably works really well on the page but to visualise it and make it menacing is tough.

Actually there are a lot of concepts in this film that would just go over kids heads as they look at the pretty visuals. Which makes it all the more satisfying to rediscover later in life. Check it out again, it's well worth it.

Brazil

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

This is probably Terry Gilliam's most famous work. Hilarious and tragic, bizarre and fantastic. A nightmare world of a retro-future information explosion.

It has the usual manic feeling of chaos prevalent in Gilliam's work, along with an over abundance of wide angles filled with great production design. And still every time I watch it I always pick up something new. I wish I had it in HD.

I love that this huge story is all a chain reaction from a small fly. One man in the middle of a bureaucratic nightmare, justing trying to find the girl of his dreams and inadvertently becoming an enemy of the state. It's a great cast and funny script, you can certainly hear Tom Stoppard's dialogue come through in places.

It was great to watch through this monumental film again, a film who's troubled release is almost as famous as the film itself. It's a masterpiece.

Dead Silence

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

After Saw became a franchise James Wan and Leigh Whannell concocted this little number. Although it's extremely flawed it manages to create a great new horror mythology, complete with some iconic imagery, a creepy town with an unspoken legend and a kids nursery rhyme. And one of the freakiest looking ghosts ever.

My favourite thing about it is the concept of not being able to scream or your tongue will be ripped out. Like saying Candyman 5 times in a mirror it gives the audience a small part of participation in the film. When the sound cuts out and things go "dead silent" you inadvertently try your best not to make any noise. It's great fun.

The dialogue and acting aren't anything special, there's some nice music and little directorial flourishes in transitions and such. It's not entirely successful, the twist ending is easy to pick up, but you can't fault them for going for broke with the creepiness factor. I look forward to their latest which, with any luck, will come out in a few weeks.

Apocalypto

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Watched With: Jordan

This one took my a bit by surprise when I first saw it in theatres. Mel Gibson craziness and gratuitous violence complaints aside I didn't know what to expect. What I got was an awesome old school revenge thriller, albeit set in an exotic location in another language and culture.

The biggest surprise was the scale of the 2nd act. I love the everything you get to see of this civilisation, it's fascinating and the make-up and costumes are incredible. Looks good on bluray, you can see where they switch from film to digital.

But at the heart of it all is a simple story of a Man trying to get back to his family and stop the people that destroyed his village. The action is great and the world feels real, it totally transports you there. It's just neat. Ignore the hate and give it a watch.

The TV Set

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Here's a great little gem that was sadly never released properly anywhere in the world. It eventually came out on DVD in australia but I'm pretty sure no-one saw it. It's a shame because it's very funny if not a little depressing for the state of the television industry the film portrays.

This is by far the scariest character Sigourney Weaver has played. Horrifying and hilarious. Fran Kranz from Dollhouse is equally effective as the clueless actor. Actually the whole cast is great, it's peppered with some awesome players.

And whatever evil genius thought up the wondrous world of "Slut Wars" deservers a medal. Or to bun in hell. Or Both. Amazing.

Seek this one out.

Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

I know it's not fashionable but ever since I was a kid this one has always been my favourite of the series. It's incredibly dark (this film and gremlins are pretty much the reason America has a PG-13 rating in their system) compared to the others, which I love, and I also think it has the most iconic action imagery. The mine cart chase, rope bridge, the slowly closing temple wall death traps covered with bugs and the whole evil cult in the jungle thing just scream classic adventure to me. And of course the iconic grabbing of the hat at the last minute from behind the closing wall.

I also don't find the kid sidekick and the prissy girl annoying which is usually the biggest problem for most. I remember we watched this in our year 10 english class and wrote about feminism. That's pretty funny. But I love the ridiculous banter between them in the bedroom scene.

I also didn't realise until recently that this film actually takes place before the events of the other two. So I can use that as an excuse to watch this one first when I go through the trilogy (and maybe the 4th one. Maybe)

I just love the introduction it gives the character, watching this one first. You start off with a musical number in Shanghai and then a classic round table trade off with diamonds and poison and all that stuff. It's so well shot, what I notice that Spielberg does with his action chase set ups is there always seams to be one extra beat in each shot that other films wouldn't have. During the chaos of the club scene, and of course in other action scenes through the series, he doesn't just have an insert shot. It will pretty much always pan from that to a character doing something else and then a bag guy being punched, wiping the frame to land on another group of characters. It gives the action such a better sense of geography and timing, and can also add tension or even humor. Modern shaky cam directors should take note.

Again we have a great music by John Williams, I really love the way the score works when they are stuck in the booby trapped room. I also love the evil cults chants but no matter how many times I recite Mola Ram's magic words I haven't been able to pull out anyones beating heart. Side note, I stopped going to church when I could no longer discern any difference between the validity of the mass and the cult worshipping practices from this film.

Out of all the films in the series this is the one I think feels most like a 1930's adventure serial they are aspiring to. It was a lot of fun to revisit and I hope they have the full series out on bluray soon.

The Weather Man

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Another brilliant film from Gore Verbinski that's completely different to everything else he's made. Probably the best non-crazy Nicolas Cage performance in a long time. The rest of the cast is great too, although Michael Caine doing an american accent is a little strange since the sound of his voice is so iconic.

This just has a bloody fantastic script by Steve Conrad. It's a very dry wit and great characters. I don't really know how else to describe it other than, they make the drama easy to watch. Really neat score that if you heard on it's own would never peg to be from a movie like this, beautifully shot Chicago in the winter. You know it's going to be technically proficient from Verbinski.

This is the little character drama comedy he made as a palette cleanser in between making the first Pirates film and the monumental task of shooting the next two back to back. I really think it does feel refreshing too, he's flexing a different directorial muscle and loving the opportunity. Just as much effort went into this.

Definitely check this one out if you have missed it. It's become one of my favourite dramas in recent years.

The Goonies

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

I came a little late to the game on this one, I only saw it when I was in high school, but my older sister would watch this one. It's another classic kids only adventure film from the 80's. I'm going on a bit of a Spielberg marathon here, but if you want good holiday adventure movies, you can't do much better than the master in his heydays.

All the fantastic elements aside, this group of kids has a feeling of authenticity and camaraderie that is rare to capture. We are thrown in with these character at the beginning and you get the feeling they've been having small adventures for years and years before this.

It's another nostalgic masterpiece that instantly transports you back to childhood. Looks great on Bluray too.

*batteries not included

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Tyler, Josh

Ahh, another great Albin film from the 80's. I grew up on this one but sadly most everyone I know has never heard of it. It is one of the sweetest family films you'll ever find. Just look at it's credentials! My god what a team.

I think you can really feel Brad Bird's input in this script it has that same warm 50's family feel the Incredibles does. All that is accompanied by another great James Horner fantasy score even if you can hear bits of Land Before Time in there.

What got me with this one as a kid were the great special effects, another in the last of the photochemical compositing techniques, but what gets me about this now is the heart of the film, the great characters and the simple drama that unfolds.

They make little robots cure. I think Wall•E is the only film since that comes close to being able to do that. Great film.

Empire of the Sun

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Tyler, Josh

Great Spielberg film for a rainy evening. Young Christian Bale is so good. As usual fantastic cast. I really love this film, one that seems to have been forgotten so I love showing this to people.

Tom Stoppard screenplay based on J.G. Ballard's novel, John Williams music, and all the other Spielberg regulars, it's a wonderfully conceived film and absolutely fascinating to watch unfold. It also has magnificent cinematography.

Most importantly it gets you right into the mind of this young boy stuck in these extraordinary circumstances. One of my favourite scenes is right at the start when he finds the remnants of a crashed plane and plays around in it. I love the way that it's shot like a real areal action sequence even though it's only pretend, it really gets you involved with the world that character is creating.

Aslo a very young Ben Stiller.

If you haven't ever scene this film, put it on your list! It's fantastic, and much more easy going than Schindler's List, his next war film. (Unless you count Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, which has some hilarious nazi action in it.)

Showgirls

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Tyler, Josh

Speaking of trash.

I think this film is overlooked as one of the greatest over produced pieces of trash exploitation ever made. It looks immaculate. The script is terrible and the acting is over the top and I love it. No one does exploitation with such classiness as Paul Verhoeven. Although class is not a word anyone would associate with this film.

Elizabeth Berkley's character is just SO angry all the time. and she doesn't have an arc or learn anything by the end of the film. The "dancing" is pretty funny too. There are a lot of tits though so I don't know why anyone can complain. Never before have shuch explicit sexual acts been so immaculately lit and edited and directed.

A great silly holiday film. I like this far more than Flashdance or Burlesque.

Sydney White

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Tyler, Josh

This makes a hell of a double feature with Dancer in the Dark. Woah.

I just love Amanda Bynes. She is comic genius. She is. Well, she's a guilty pleasure anyway. As are all her films. This one is a modern version of Snow White set on sorority row. Oh my.

The seven nerds are great. Amanda saves the day. I don't have much more to say. Oh except there are some really bad bad "trying to be fancy pop editing" montages that are just silly epileptic fits waiting to happen. And everybody always looks immaculate. It's amazing.

Fun trashy film for silly times.

Dancer in the Dark

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly, Tyler, Josh

Lars von Trier does a Dogma '95 musical, which is contradictory by classification, but here it is. Starring Björk who does a hell of a performance and provides the music.

I find this fascinating and gut wrenching and I really like the music but this is soooo not to everyones tastes. Especially if you don't like Björk or have never heard of her and don't know what to expect (as I found out showing this to friends)It has been a while since I've seen it and it was actually even better than I remember.

My problem with it is it really drags in places in the latter half but I think it's a necessary evil otherwise the build up to the climax wouldn't work as well.

This is just a tragic tail, but I think one of Lars von Trier's better films thanks to a great cast. It's a little long but a worthwhile effort.

Jurassic Park 3

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

Joe Johnston takes over the directorial reins on this one. It doesn't have as good a story as the other two, it's kinda jurassic park lite, but it does have some great dinosaur action. I especially like the avery sequence. Finally they had the technology to do flying dinosaurs in an action sequence.

It also has an awesome cast, Sam Neill and Laura Dern return and they add William H. Macy and Téa Leoni. That's pretty cool. Their story isn't all that interesting though.

It's not the best but I really enjoy this one as just pure dinosaur adventure entertainment. Sometimes even more so than the second instalment. But nothing in this one comes close to the goodness of that double T-rex attack on the 2nd.

Jurassic Park 2: The Lost World

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly


It's been a while since I've been through these ones. But we watched the first last year and needed to finish off the series.

The second film follows the funniest character back to a different dinosaur infested island. Jeff Goldblum has his usual idiosyncratic speech pattern going to full comic effect here. Add to the mix Julianne Moore, Vince Vaughn, Peter Stormare and the late great Pete Postlethwaite and, as usual in a Spielberg cast, you have a winning team.

This one also has one of my all time favourite action set pieces ever, the T-rex attack on the two trailers over the cliff. The way it builds the suspense throughout and some iconic images it creates makes it very memorable. I'm thinking specifically of Julianne Moore lying on the glass plate as it cracks. That is so great, it feels like the kind of thing I would imagine up as a little kid playing with toy cars and blocks and plastic animals.

The Raptor attacks in the long grass are simple, scary and effective. And the little Compy's eating Peter Stormare is a nice new element in the series.

What I don't like about the film is the third act, moving the action over the San Diego feels a little gimmicky to me, even though it's a nice visual.

This one's all about family, the characters relationships nicely mirrored with the T-rex family. It doesn't have the same wonder and awe that the first one does but the action and effects are still great.

Willow

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Watched With: Jordan, Amberly

I grew up on this one. It is a great looking fantasy epic. Ron Howard directs and George Lucas produces. You can see his hands all over this, from the awesome effects from ILM to the annoying comedy relief sidekick characters. But most importantly, the hero's quest structure of storytelling firmly in place.

Val Kilmer is very cartoonish when it comes to the hilarious obligatory romance. And the old school action scenes, like the horse and cart chase are great. The two headed dragon dude is brilliantly animated and the final old lady magic smack down at the end is great too.

This is right on the cusp of the digital world. It's the very best photo-chemical optical compositing every got, some of the stuff with the brownies is particularly great, especially matching all the camera moves. It's also famously the film that introduced the world to the concept of morphing, one of the few very early digital effects in the film.

But none of that matter when you are a kid watching this growing up. It's just an awesome magical fantasy world with a classic pure evil queen, warriors, creatures, epic James Horner score and an unexpected hero.

I haven't seen this for a long time, so it was great to watch it again with fresh eyes. It is much cheesier than I remember but it's still one of the better 80's fantasy films.