http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/ Micah's informal notes on the movies he sees en-us Copyright Micah Prude. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1656 I decided to rewatch this in anticipation of Quantum of Solice, but I'll admit that I wasn't too psyched about it. I remember liking the movie the first (and only) time I watched it, but didn't think I'd completely enjoy it the second time around.

But I couldn't have been more wrong. I haven't gone back yet and re-read my notes from the first time I watched this, but I don't remember liking it near as much as I liked it this time around.

Not since I watched Jean-Paul Belmondo as Bob Saint-Clair in Le Magnifique (notes here: http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1151) have I so emphatically wanted to be a movie character I was watching. Craig is so achingly manly/badass/unstoppable during this movie that I couldn't help but think that I'd easily trade in all my Indiana Jones/Tyler Durden/Wheeler fantasies in for the chance to be this Bond.

There's a scene where Vesper tells Bond that even if all he had left was his smile and his pinky, he'd be more of a man than anyone she'd ever met. She's already in love with him at this point, but the way she delivers that line... you can tell she's legitimately pissed at him for being so badass that he's completely flummoxed her. I was feeling the same way.

In that same scene, Craig gives her the line about his armor being down, and that he's hers. I remember seeing that line in the trailer and thinking it was melodramatic shit. And I don't even remember having it worked for me in the context of the film. But seeing it again this time around... it seemed like a completely honest moment, and serves as an absolute impetus for a thousand generations of post-Vesper Bonds to say "You know what? This love shit isn't worth the trouble. Fuck it."

Man... I can't wait to see QoS. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1656 Sat, 15 Nov 2008 01:44:10 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1655 So I noticed that this indie horror flick was playing for two nights only in Dallas and a few other cities (and I don't think Austin was one... suck it Austin!). So I decided to check it out...

And it's really good... in a cheap horror sort of way. If you get the chance to see it, you definitely should. Especially if you're into exploitation films. This doesn't exactly have that vibe, but it takes place in a run-down grindhouse theater and focuses on a vintage film. A vintage film where the on-screen killer can come alive and fuck up the people in the theater.

Therea are massive logic-gaps that you'll have to deal with (like why does this theater end up with the universe's only print of this apparently extremely dangerous film), but once you do, it's well worth the suspension of disbelief. And luckily the acting is uniformly strong... kudos to the main chick (Rebekah Brandes... who was completely kickass and makes me depressed by her appearance in the upcoming "Untitled Jonas Brothers 3D Project") and the biker couple (Stan Ellsworth and Melissa Steach, I belive... who should be cast in a modern dude biker gang v. a chick biker gang ASAP).

The killer here had a skull-mask covered face. And he weilded a giant super-sharp corkscrew type deal that he could punch or slice people with. And he could exit the film, kill people from the theater, then drag their corpses into his realm. It was completely badass.

So again... check this out when you get the chance... http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1655 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 02:00:01 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1654 Wow... my wife and I had to see this because... let's just say we had to see this. It's been out a few weeks and I was shocked - shocked I say - realize that the theater we say it in almost completely full!

And... although I agree with the overall message (or at least parts of it... the parts that say you should pay attention to the person your married to), this movie is agressively bad. My wife and I both had to literally fight back laughter throughout the film. Which wouldn't have been so bad, execpt that everyone else in the theater was hanging on every word and laughing at every cheap Screenwriter Comedy 101 moment (like the Black Actors who were either Sassy or Wise, or the Fat Actors who were uniformly Hilarious). This screening verified my belief that most people are idiots. The laughing and the gasping were are moments that were so transparently orchestrated that my wife and I couldn't help but roll our eyes.

Not like you're planning on seeing this one, but if you are, avoid. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1654 Mon, 10 Nov 2008 01:48:39 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1653 Meh... this was billed as Poland's answer to Hostel, but... I dunno... it feels like a 2-hour movie that got randomly edited into 90 minutes. I had an extremely hard time following the storyline, especially since the main-character focus shifted 180 degrees halfway through the film.

I liked the euro-degredation-ambiance of this flick, but wish it was put together more better. Like that sentence. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1653 Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:51:17 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1652 Best vintage exploitation flick I've seen in months. This is about a couple of chicks (Sondra Locke & Colleen Camp) who show up in the rain to the house of happily-married Seymour Cassel (while his wife is out of town) and ask to use his phone. They end up seducing him (but in a way that keeps us from hating Cassel for cheating on his wife), then refuse to leave the next morning, threatening him with statutory (they claim to be 17 and 15... as if), if he calls the cops. But Cassel's wife is due back in town tomorrow! What's he to do? Can things get any stranger?

The answers to those three sentences are: Oh Shit. Not much, because he's tied the fuck up. Oh hell yes... just wait until Sondra Locke puts on her makeup.

Locke is the clear star of this film, but the entire thing is so completely unhinged that it slides right into the exploitation flick hall of fame. Highly recommended. Hooray for Sondra Locke! http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1652 Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:47:13 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1651 I watched most of this yesterday, but ended up shutting it down early so that I could watch the presidential finale/Daily Show extravaganza. Hooray Obama! Hooray America!

So... I finished this today. Not a big fan. It's mostly people wandering in a tunnel, getting stalked by a pseudo-mythological badman, and repeatedly splitting-up/getting back together for no good reason.

This was part of the "Ghost House Underground" collection that includes The Substitute (meh) and Dance Of The Dead (double-meh). Skip this one. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1651 Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:34:32 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1650 Wow... same director and everything. How to account for the fact that Feast I completely hit the horror-comedy spot, and Feast II completely missed the mark? There were a few good moments, but overall... not excited about this film. Fingers crossed for Feast 3: The Happy Finish. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1650 Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:29:08 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1649 Notes Later... http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1649 Thu, 06 Nov 2008 01:20:51 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1648 Well damn... this was good. Really good. The plot is your standard "Innocents Caught In Insane Racists' Home" stuff (this time of the Nazi - as opposed to redneck - variety), but the main actress's (Karina Testa) performance was outstanding (she really gets put through the ringer... and it looks like she legitimately gets the shit beat out of her by the muscle-bound Nazi bastards) and the brutality/gore is unrelenting (I don't know if I was just in a receptive mood tonight, but the violence seemed decidedly non-fictional... and man... there was a *sick* bit of Achilles-heel trauma... I had to look away, which I hardly ever find myself doing). That was a really long sentence. Hooray for parenthetical diversions.

So, yeah... great cast all around (apart from the three protagonist males who were mostly forgettable). I particularly liked Samuel Le Bihan as the super-huge (but less favored by Nazi-dad) brother. Interestingly, his current main IMDB picture (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0494078/) shows him as a dead ringer for Klaus Kinski. Will someone please cast him in a Kinski bio-doc (preferably directed by Herzog) ASAP?

And this was the first film I've seen in a while where I was actually scared. I'm specifically thinking of the scene where the nicest male protagonist is looking through a camcorder in a pitch-black tunnel, and some... *thing*... moves just beyond the verge of where the camcorder's light can reach... breath-holding stuff.

The claustrophobia bits in a side tunnel were also tough to watch. For some reason, nothing in Descent got to me like that scene did.

Definately recommended. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1648 Sun, 26 Oct 2008 01:40:17 GMT http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1647 If you don't know about this movie, it's a teenage zombie flick that dares to ask the question "What would happen if a zombie breakout occurred on the night of prom?" It's a horror comedy, but most of the comedy is more silly or groan-inducing, rather than actually funny (unlike, say, Slither or Feast).

Plus, my favorite characters in the film - the rock band and the redneck older dude (Justin Welborn, in a brilliant asshole performance... I don't know this actor but I have my eye on him now... IMDB says he's going to be in Final Destination 4 as "Racist"... awesome) - weren't in it that much.

But, the actual main characters were still pretty likeable, so even though a lot of the plot developments were a bit too on-the-nose for my tastes, I still liked this pretty well. http://calendar.reeldistraction.com/?action=movieDetails&movieID=1647 Sat, 25 Oct 2008 01:24:27 GMT