What Films Did You Watch Today?

[mixologist]

Went to a 24 Hour film festival. It was a terrific.

It started off with:
1) The Abominable Dr. Phibes. Great Vincent price classic, I've seen this countless times and I never get bored of it (this was a 35mm print).

2) White Zombie - I really like this Bela Lugosi film. It's probably too slow for today's audiences, but the atmosphere is great, and Bela is doing a fantastic job...the close up of the eyes... (again, 35mm print)

3) Something Wicked This Way Comes. Wow. I remembered this film as a kid, but I like it so much more now. Why can't Disney do darker films like this anymore? I'm sure this was the genesis for Stephen King's Needful Things. (35mm print)

4) Phantom of the Paradise - Brian De Palma's rock opera classic. It's Faust /The Picture of Dorian Gray and nods to classic horror (Frankenstein/Psycho and more). I'm a huge fan of 70's DePalma and this does not disappoint. This was the film I was hoping my fiancee would like and it; she, at first didn't know if she hated or loved it, but by the end she was all about it! It helps that it has Suspiria's Jessica Harper in it as well. (35mm print)

5) Kill List. This film is like A Serbian film's less offensive cousin with layers of Wicker Man (Christopher Lee Movie, not the awful Nick Cage one). It's a brutal film. I cannot stress that enough. Hard-horror fans will like this, many others will probably be offended or sickened. It was great to see a film like this, knowing I would probably not have the chance any other time to see it on the big screen (35mm print)

6) Possession - This was THE film I wanted to see at this festival. It didn't disappoint. This one of the most insane films I've seen in some time. Isabelle Adjani's freakout is one of the strangest unsettling things I've seen in ages. Sam Neill does a fantastic job too. Both are so self absorbed and nihilistic, it's hard to believe they were in love with one another. Their son is the only sane one...(35mm print)

7) The Devils - It was already 2AM and I'm feeling it. I didn't to see all of this, but I know it's a rarity to see Ken Russell's controversial film on the big screen. It doesn't even have a legitimate DVD release. It stars Oliver Reed and Vanessa Redgrave. What I saw of it was amazing, even though it's subject matter will be off-putting to most. (WB digital print).

8) Dead Alive - It's the 20th anniversary of the film (20 years????) Who knew that Peter Jackson would be a megastar after releasing this very gory zombie film. Probably because he went on to do other fantastic films like Heavenly Creatures. (35mm print)

9)Videodrome - is dead! Long live the new flesh! David Cronenberg's classic headgame of a movie. Freaked me out as a kid, still kind of freaks me out now. Unfortunately I slept though some of this one because I had seen it a bunch of times. (35mm print)

10) The Last Circus - Crazy clown film from Spain. I don't know where to start. It's just insane. I was dozing on and off and will have to pick this up via import. (35mm print)

11) Werewolves on Wheels - Boy, if there was a film I wish I could have slept though, it's this one. By this time I had enough sleep to push through the rest of the festival (and get home) The trailer looks like all kinds of awesome, but the film? not so much. It's perfect example of an exploitation film.(35mm print)

12) An American Werewolf in London - I can't say enough about how awesome this movie is. I've seen it countless times on home video - I don't ever remember seeing this on the big screen, but I'm glad I did this time. Rick Baker's effects still look great and it was a great way to end the festival. (35mm print).

[redsox girl]

Tucker and Dale vs. Evil We laughed so hard we snorted. Its a comedy, sort of. A bunch of sterotypical college kids go camping in red neck country. Meanwhile, best friends Dale and Tucker , a couple of backwoods good ol boys (who happen to be awfully nice and normal) are traveling in the same direction, to their newly purchased vacation home, a stereotypivcal cabin in the woods that falls under the category fixer upper. When their paths accidentally cross at a gas station the kids mistake the friendly (and in Dales case, girl shy) best friends for crazy, inbred serial killers. Hi-jinks ensue when Tucker and Dale out fishing in the midnight bayou, save one of the kids from drowning. Her friends are convinced shes being held captive (in fact, Dale and Tucker are nursing her back to health in their ramshackle cabin). She winds up hanging with Dale and Tucker, helping them fix up their dream house, playing board games while her friends, one by one, ineptly try to `save' her, in scenes reminiscent of woodchippers (nod to fargo) and other silliness that dont quite go the kids way. Youll fall in love ith good guys Dale and Tucker(who are constantly just trying to set things right ) and their new college pal(for once a female horror movie character who isnt a blathering, inept moron) while hissing and booing her idiotic friends. It was made on a low budget but that hasnt stopped it from becoming a cult classic since its 2010 release. Yes, there are some gross scenes, but its more like comedic splatter than over the top shock fest. You arent so much terrified as rooting for the affable heroes Tucker and Dale. The ending is a nice twist, as well.

[Realitychick]

Wreck It Ralph - It was cute, I was able to sit through it without tired butt syndrome...Little brother loved it and that is all that matters.

Flight - Denzel is fantastic in this. Great movie.

[JavaJo]

We watched Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Tower Heist this weekend. Tower Heist was funny. Dumb but funny. Typical Ben Stiller movie. The Abraham Lincoln movie was.....weird? I liked parts of it and I thought the cast was stellar. The fight scenes were cheezy, IMO. I thought they could have been done a lot better. The storyline and the relationships were good though.

[waywyrd]

The Abraham Lincoln movie was.....weird? I liked parts of it and I thought the cast was stellar. The fight scenes were cheezy, IMO. I thought they could have been done a lot better. The storyline and the relationships were good though.

The wild horse chase/fight was goofy, but I did like the vamps when they turned. Wicked looking!

[libgirl2]

I watch the oddest movie ever. It was called Rare Exports: A Christmas Tale. Its a fantasy film from Finland involving the REAL Santa Claus buried in ice in a mountain, buried for a reason. ... I wasn't sure if I liked it until the end when I realized I did.

[JavaJo]

The wild horse chase/fight was goofy, but I did like the vamps when they turned. Wicked looking!

Yep....that's the scene I found weird. It was too frantic and silly.

[KatesMom]

I caught 21 Jump Street last night and I really enjoyed it! The two play off each other very well (Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum). And thinking of a world where Jonah is the popular kid and Channing is the nerd is HILARIOUS!! It was a good story, but I loved that they didn't take it too serious, and there was still plenty of humor wrapped in. I thought it struck just the right balance. Maybe someone else who has seen can help me - at the end, Johnny Depp has a cameo (and I saw Holly Robinson Peete was also in it). Was the entire original cast in it somewhere? I didn't know all the other characters from the original show by heart. I wondered if the guy with JD at the end was Richard Greico, but I just couldn't tell - and of course they didn't give them a credit at the end. I'm gonna go check the internet, but figured I would see if some of the experts here knew!!

ETA - just found out it was Peter DeLuise!

[Realitychick]

Skyfall I have only seen a few James Bond movies but this was one of the best I've seen. I used to not get the big deal about Daniel Craig, but now I get it. He is very good. It was a fairly long movie but didn't feel that way. Some great action scenes and Judi Dench well she is fantastic.

[libgirl2]

The Abraham Lincoln movie was.....weird? I liked parts of it and I thought the cast was stellar. The fight scenes were cheezy, IMO. I thought they could have been done a lot better. The storyline and the relationships were good though.

Just watched it (well not the whole thing in my case) last night. We had read the book for my book club so I was anxious to see it, even though I knew they changed things. Did they ever! And not for the best. Like I told my husband, the book was a bio of Lincoln with vampires thrown in and oddly plausible. The movie was a typical action/vampire film that happened to have Lincoln in it. I never felt he was a vital and neccessary part of it. Anyone could have hunted the vampires imho. And Henry's backstory in the book was so chilling and eerie, in the movie it wasn't. I missed many things that made the book entertaining. Armstrong, Poe... and Booth's big secret!

The actors were spot on though, though I thought Rufus Sewell was more fitting for the Henry character.