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3rd February 2007, 19:13
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#322 (permalink) | |
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El Presidente - Voted best poster 2007
 Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Number 17. (Laura's got a cellulite arse). RIP Jermaine Stewart.
Posts: 27,965
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Actually the cinematography's very good. So you might as well watch it at the pictures. |
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4th February 2007, 04:50
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#325 (permalink) |
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Trannie Lover
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 7,081
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Saw Bergman's 'Through A Glass Darkly' the other day (Ingmar, not Ingrid. An easy mistake to make, to be sure). The camera work is stunning but I could have done with a few less never-ending silences. The other problem was that it tried to cover too much terrain in 90 minutes and a lot of it went over my head until I read some articles about it. Not bad though.
I've got a few of his other ones which I intend to look at soon. |
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4th February 2007, 05:37
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#326 (permalink) | |
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Reserve Team Player
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 3,106
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6th February 2007, 03:42
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#329 (permalink) |
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Reserve Team Player
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Los Angeles
Posts: 4,420
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 A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2: FREDDY’S REVENGE Freddy’s Revenge is not a great film. Hell, it’s not even a very good one. It was produced for the same ignoble money-grabbing reasons sequels to horror films are always getting made. Lacking any true slasher auteurism of his own, director Jack Sholder (The Hidden) cribs sequences from zeitgeist contemporaries like An American Werewolf in London and Ghostbusters. Of the seven Nightmare on Elm Street films (we will discount Freddy vs. Jason), number two is probably the most universally derided by fans and critics alike. This being said, Freddy’s Revenge is the kind of bad film that’s interesting to talk about - this has to count for something. Nightmare 2 starts off five years after the original with, Freddy Krueger aside, a whole new cast of characters. Teenager Jesse Walsh and family have now moved into the infamous 1428 Elm Street (the setting of the first film), trying to make a new life for themselves in sleepy Springwood, Ohio. Jesse hasn’t even finished unpacking when he discovers Freddy is stoking the flames in his cellar, both literally and figuratively: Krueger appears to the boy at night like a homicidal Harvey, demanding that the weak-willed Jesse exact vengeance for him. The murderer’s glove acts a tell-tale heart, quietly calling out to him in his dreams. “Go ahead,” Freddy beckons, “try it on for size.” The Fred Krueger of the original Nightmare has become Freddy in the sequel; the switch is more than just semantics for he has changed into a somewhat more non-threatening version of himself. Indeed, this switch is emblematic of the infantilization of the character that continued in the Nightmare series, a process that saw him become more wiseacre hero than villain. With Krueger, there always seems to have been things left unsaid in the early films in regards to his carnal menace. His original sin is having kidnapped twenty children, brought them to a power plant, and killed them; it was for this crime, and the ensuing failure of the criminal justice system, that the good town folk of (ahem) Springwood took justice into their own hands. Granted, Freddy is supposed to represent “evil itself,” but who just kills children (the sixth installment, Freddy’s Dead, tries to clear some of these issues up)? His glove, the symbol of Krueger's own unique sadism (anyone who manufactures such an implement takes their killin’ seriously), also has to be adjudged of its intrinsic phallic qualities (and the yonic wounds it tends to leave; see also La Bete Humaine for more about the sexual implications of death by stabbing). The point is further literalized in Freddy’s Revenge when the glove is removed, only to show the blades to be some fleshy corporeal appendage (a newspaper headline even calls him the “Springwood Slasher”). It all dovetails nicely with original series’ creator Wes Craven’s themes of hypocrisy within the American nuclear family and the sins of the father revisited unto the son; Krueger does not just appear in the dreams of his victims – he takes those dreams away. Such is the enduring injury of child sexual abuse. Freddy’s Revenge could very likely be the most homoerotic mainstream horror film ever made. Others have posited that the picture is essentially an extended allegory for protagonist Jesse’s inner conflict over his emerging homosexuality – a compelling argument could definitely be made (the actor who plays Jesse, Mark Patton, is gay). Repetitive shots of sweaty, bare-chested Jesse waking at night reach the point of unintentional comedy (not to mention a suggestive bedroom dance to Touch Me (All Night Long)); during one bizarre occasion, he takes a nocturnal stroll down to Springwood’s local leather bar, meeting up with phys ed instructor Coach Schneider (Marshall Bell). As a form of punishment/foreplay, Schneider makes his student do laps around the gymnasium before commanding him to hit the showers. While Coach readies jump ropes for some anticipated S&M and (we presume) anal rape, Freddy intervenes; Schneider is beaten by sporting goods (balls, mostly, natch) and ultimately sliced-up “like a kielbasa” (I’ll say), with Jesse revealed to have been wielding the glove. Later on at a pool party, the teenager experiences performance anxiety of a sort with his girlfriend, Lisa (Kim Myers). Embarrassed/fearful of an engorged protuberance (in this case, a monstrous grey tongue), he extricates himself for the relative safety of his friend Grady’s (Robert Rusler) bedroom. “Something is trying to get inside my body,” Jesse tells him. “Yeah, and she’s female and waiting for you inside the cabana. And you want to sleep with me.” It’s very possible: the two share an unusual amount of scenes doing push-ups next to each other while exchanging commentary on their gym teacher’s sexual habits/tastes. When Jesse falls asleep in biology class, he wakes to find a snake wrapped tightly around his neck; it’s a Serpent in the Garden metaphor, but maybe another kind of snake as well. Interesting footnote: Wes Craven was not involved in any creative capacity with Freddy’s Revenge; he never viewed his original film as having a sequel (much less six of them, plus Freddy vs. Jason). He did, however, write the first draft of the third Nightmare installment, Dream Warriors, whose writers also included Chuck Russell (director of Eraser and The Mask), novelist Bruce Wagner, and Academy Award-nominated filmmaker Frank Darabont (The Shawshank Redemption, The Green Mile). Craven also wrote and directed the final Elm Street chapter, New Nightmare. http://www.pretentiousmusings.com/a_..._street_2.html |
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6th February 2007, 04:20
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#331 (permalink) |
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Teeth like a reindeer. Hung like a horse.
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Ingadus Speramus
Posts: 35,664
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quick review time:-
The Matador: 2 men walk into a bar, one is a hitman. Far better than I expected mainly due to a plot that wasn't quite as predictable as it could have been and excellent charismatic performances by Kinnear and Pierce Brosnan. 7.5/10 - Well worth a watch. The Sentinel: Not quite as bad a 24 rip off as you might expect but still pretty ordinary. Worth a watch on DVD if there isn't much else on the shleves of Blockbuster. 6/10 Borat: Hilarious in places but nowhere near as funny as it should have been. Not really a film but a repetition of the same joke over and over again. And the last scene with Pamela Anderson was such an obviously staged event that it spoiled the payoff a bit. Well worth watching. 7.5/10 A Scanner Darkly. Nice idea (although what is the point of animating completely over live action?) but rather dull and pointless in the end. OK if really desperate. 5/10 Friends With Money: An interesting film about the relationship between friends with vastly different wealth although in the end it went nowhere and said nothing. Shame they didn't make the second half of the film. 6.5/10 The Break Up: Neither romantic nor a comedy. Utter shit from start to finish. 0.5/10 Talladega Nights: Crass and deeply unfunny (shame because crass and funny can work well). yet another lazy lazt US comedy. Avoid. 1/10. Kids Films The Monster House: Much better kids film than the reviews suggest. A bit fun, quite scary and the action is good. A much better kids film than Happy Feet. Possibly a better film full stop (yank period). 7.5/10 Happy Feet: A much better adults film than a kids film. Most kids in the cinema were a little bored. Nice singing and dancing but a little ho hum. 6.5/10 Flushed Away: I enjoyed this even if it wasn't quite as well directed as other Ardman stuff. I though the slightly more mature pace of the film might put kids off but the concensus amongst 8 year old boys seems to be that this was the kids film of the year. When the laughs and action come they are great. the singing slugs are a standout. 8/10 Retro review There is Something About Mary: What can I say? The best US comedy film since ??????? When you see how good this is it makes you annoyed that most US comedy films are such lazy rubbish. If you haven't seen it do so now. Even if you have watch it again soon. 9/10 The Thing: Perhaps a little slow paced for modern audiences but a horror/sci-fi classic. Even the special effects work despite a lack of cgi. Great to watch again after all this time. 8/10 Glen Gary Glen Ross: Suffers for its stage play origins and in the end fails to rise above these limitations. On stage great individual performances would carry you past the rather obvious plot but on film it doesn't quite work. Shame. Horrible overacting by Pacino (and I'm a fan). Still worth a look. 6.5/10 |
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6th February 2007, 12:57
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#334 (permalink) |
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Teeth like a reindeer. Hung like a horse.
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Ingadus Speramus
Posts: 35,664
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Event Horizon is one of the worst Science Fiction films ever made.
So bad that I got the giggles half way through after being annoyed for most of the first half. I then got really annoyed for the rest of the "film". Nonsensical gibberish at best. 0/10 |
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6th February 2007, 12:59
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#335 (permalink) |
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El Presidente - Voted best poster 2007
Join Date: Oct 2001
Location: Number 17. (Laura's got a cellulite arse). RIP Jermaine Stewart.
Posts: 27,965
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I watched The Prestige last night. I enjoyed it, although you get the feeling Nolan was trying his best to over complicate it.
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6th February 2007, 13:03
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#336 (permalink) |
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Teeth like a reindeer. Hung like a horse.
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Ingadus Speramus
Posts: 35,664
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Not seen it. I'll give it a look. Have you seen The Devil Wears Prada? It is our on DVD here tommorow and it looks like it could be very good or very bad indeed.
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6th February 2007, 17:28
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#341 (permalink) |
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self confessed womens pantie wearer
Join Date: May 2006
Location: form is emptiness, emptiness is form.
Posts: 14,501
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 Kicking and Screaming It actually made me laugh on numerous occasions. Robert Duvall is fantastically funny as Will Ferrell's overly macho father. Mike Ditka (a hard ass retired American Football coach) makes a lovely cameo as Duvall's mortal enemy (aka neighbour in America). It's nothing spectacular but it wasn't a waste of my time like so many other movies, especially ones about footy. 6.5/10 Additionally, this picture came up during my search and I had to post it.   donkeys. |
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6th February 2007, 22:28
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#345 (permalink) | |
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Teeth like a reindeer. Hung like a horse.
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: Ingadus Speramus
Posts: 35,664
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Quote:
BTW, if you call someone a moron it is better to spell it correctly. |
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6th February 2007, 23:13
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#347 (permalink) |
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Manager
Join Date: Jun 2000
Location: In the shadows fighting e-crime
Posts: 45,704
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Domino
 Plot: A recounting of Domino Harvey's life story. The daughter of actor Laurence Harvey turned away from her career as a Ford model to become a bounty hunter. Rating: 4 out of 10. Boring. Really boring. Not much happens. Trys to be so clever that it actually disappears up its own arse. I actually turned it off before the very end so maybe i missed something. I doubt it. |
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