Last movie you watched?

[GrimTheLost]

Cloverfield: I actually liked it more than I thought I would. I usually like monster movies so this was up there. Unlike many of the reviews I had heard and read, I actually cared for the characters. I personally liked Hud, the camera guy, his real name is Hudson. I also liked that he was the camera guy and that his name is also short for Heads Up Display, I like the little things like that in movies.

[jekylljuice]

Stardust

A fun fantasy film. Well, to be totally honest the basic narrative arc was as predictable as sin, and I had a hard time engaging myself with the two lead protagonists, but it was the little things which made it work, and there were enough of them throughout to keep it moving along fairly smoothly, most notably its surprisingly macabre sense of humour. And Mark Williams was in it, giving an absolutely stunning performance as a goat trapped inside a human body. Which was nice.

By the way, does anyone else here have vague memories of this other, much more low-key movie entitled Stardust, featuring a sentient vacuum cleaner? Okay, I guess it's just me then...

[Ridureyu]

Cloverfield


One of the most immersive movies I've seen.

[WiltsAKGirl17]

Hairspray, with John Travolta.

God, this movie was amazing. The costumes, the acting, the MUSIC, the make-up, scenery... everything. I bought the soundtrack first and listened to it religously, so I was really expecting something that knocked my pink-with-monkeys-on-them socks off. And I was delivered just that. I HAVE to sing the praises of the make-up artist(s) here-- you could barely tell that Edna Turnblad was John Travolta.

Nikki Blonsky was great, too-- she has one heck of a singing voice and could be an amazing role model-- she's not what most people would consider "pretty" but she aspires to succeed and puts the pretty girls to shame.

Fantastic all the way around.

[frankie_fan]

I just got back from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

It was a great film. The songs were great, and I really hope that Johnny Depp wins the Oscar, because his performance was great. Sacha Baron Cohen (as much as I hate him in Borat, even though I haven't seen that film) was hilarious in this film, as was the musical number By the Sea. Johnny's expression during that song was funny! The only thing that bugged me was that I never got to see what happened at the end with Joanna and Anthony Hope.

Overall, I'm giving it 4 out of 5!

BTW, did anyone catch the Beetlejuice reference from the By the Sea number?

[Medikor]

"The Brave Vampire Killers". This was a pleasant surprise for a movie I just happened upon when flipping through channels. It's labeled as a spoof but that's not quite right because it's still a great little vampire hunter flick. Think of it more as the "Pirates of the Caribbean" of Vampire movies.
It was tough to actually hear what the characters were saying since the audio of the movie was pretty low, but from what I could make out of the dialogue it was well written and delivered. The professor certainly stole the show though.

[jekylljuice]

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Wow. Johnny Depp was positively terrifying in this film, about as far removed from the likes of Edward Scissorhands and Edward D. Wood Jr as you can get...still, given the choice I think I'd be more inclined to be trapped in a confined space with Mr. Todd than I would Mr. Depp's incarnation of Willy Wonka in Tim Burton's previous film (*shudder*). Really, congrats to Johnny. He had that glacial, utterly impassive expression he wore all throughout nailed down to a tee.

I enjoyed this film very much, despite my being of somewhat squeamish stock. An awful lot of red liquid does go flying throughout (I'll admit to feeling slightly shocked when they actually showed the first of the throat-slittings - I'd kept my eyes to the screen since I was so confident they would cut away at the critical moment), though the blood-letting is of an obviously very stylised nature, and I found that I could more-or-less handle it (never quite got over some of the pitiful gurgling noises which Mr. Todd's victims had a tendency to make, though). The dark, murky streets of Victorian London were beautifully realised, and the musical numbers were very neatly executed. My only real qualms were a couple of plot points which struck me as being somewhat underdeveloped and another which was left dangling, with no real sense of closure at the very end. Otherwise, a fine macabre delicacy, neither sweet nor savoury, but highly entertaining.

[Mr. Marshmallow]

John Carpenter's The Thing

Probably one of the (if not THE) greatest remake ever made. This movie is one of the few films I would say is a perfect movie. The music, the gore, the acting, the unbelievably fantastic special effects. Even after all these years this movie has truly withstood the test of time and still proves to be an excellent movie.

Its bad ass monster movies like these that remind me how good horror films can be, and how puppetry and prosthetics are far superior to CGI in my opinion. This movie's monster is one of the best I have ever seen and its design is so original and twisted, I have yet to find a single person or comment knocking this movie.

[Partymember]

"Blood"

absolutely beautiful. Nothing better than a surplus of human blood, katanas, and 1911 handguns.

Amazon also delivered "Paprika" and "Ghost in the Shell", both supposed to be great flicks. I have yet to watch them, though.

[jekylljuice]

The Parallax View

First time I've watched this film all the way through, though I had previously seen its centrepiece, a brain-washing montage which Warren Beatty (and, effectively, the viewer) is made to watch as part of a recruitment programme for potential assassins. To call that sequence disconcerting and unnerving would be a serious understatement, not just because of the content of some of the images themselves, but for the cunning ways in which the film juxtaposes and manipulates them. It's a scene which still manages to pack quite a punch no less than 34 years later.

As does the movie as a whole in fact. I notice that Arlington Road was later able to rip off its alarming ending very nicely.