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Scrivener

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  1. Actually no, I didn't have HBO before Carnivale came out. I subscribed immediately after plowing through (and subsequently purchasing) Carnivale Season 1 on DVD - just three weeks before Season 2 premiered. Carnivale was, honestly, the singular reason I subscribed.
  2. Carnivale was the singular draw for me. While I sometimes watch Deadwood it's something I can easily love without. I've never enjoyed any of the other HBO shows. I can't stand Sopranos or Six Feet Under. I also detest most of their original movies. As far as I'm concerned they got rid of their one greatest piece of original drama and the ONLY reason I subscribed. I used the money I saved from next months subscription to send the telegram explaining how I plan on spending their money. Several friends have already done the same.
  3. If LOTR is a 5, then this is maybe a 6. It's really not that bad at all (you basically have tons of humans instead of orcs) and had it been released 20 years ago it would have been PG13, not R. The most 'graphic' scene in the movie overlooks the results of a terrible 1-sided battle. Basically, the Christians get massacred for being stupid. There's not really much blood - not even as much as Gladiator, I think. Moreso, anything that might have been gruesome is done conveniently off-camera in typical Ridley Scott style (it really bugs me when the camera does my flinching for me). I would have liked to see some limbs come off or something but, alas, there is absolutely none of that at all. Again, my only real complaint is that the character development gets cut out in favor of the action. As well done as the action is, it feels a little 'heavy,' especially in light that the motivations for almost all of the characters is missing. Especially the first act, which is nearly incomprehensible on account of the draconian cuts. There are so many wonderful, inspirational characters here and we learn so little about them. I still enjoyed it on account that it was a failry authentic medieval themed movie - of which we have very, very few (The Last Valley remains my favorite, I think).
  4. I can't even begin to express how much this bums me out. If the rumors are true, this just ruined my year. There is a *very* good chance that Carnivale has been cancelled - just before it's 3rd and final season would have started shooting. HBO has left us loyal fans with only 2/3 of the story and enough questions to fill an encyclopedia. Worse, the same reports state that HBO is NOT interested in selling the rights to season 3. Since reading this news, I have already called to cancel my HBO subscription. If you are unfamiliar with the show, you have done yourself a grave disservice. If you thought Lost was good, you don't even know the meaning of the word. Netflix Season 1 immediately. I guess being the second most popular show on the channel means nothing to these people. They can rot in hell. I will never spend money on anything HBO again. If, in the small chance, this is some kind of gross misunderstanding, then they deserve the cancellations they have coming for not being forthcoming with the fans. In the mean time, you can buy a telegram for $14.95 to be delivered to HBO in person. You wouldn't believe how effective this is. Since I live close to their main offices, I'm looking into a local picket as well. I'll keep you posted. Heres the telegram link: Western Union Telegram Address it to HBOs main office: Chris Albrecht HBO Entertainment 2500 Broadway, Ste. 400 Santa Monica, CA 90404
  5. Sorry about the double thread, I didn't see the original. Wrong forum? Kingdom of Heaven was friggin GREAT. Moreso, all of my predictions were absolutely true. The only bad wrap the movie is getting is because its reasonable even-handed portrayal of both sides. I can assure you that any nay-sayers are the same type that insisted The Passion was antisemetic. They are ignorant uneducated louts. As much time as I have spent studying and reading about the crusades, this is as realistic and believable as I might have hoped for. Unfortunately, the drastic last-minute cuts have had an obvious negative effect on the films editing. It's quite a bit on the choppy side and feels very rushed (You're not always given enough time to figure out what's going on). If you need a comparison, it's like the original theatrical release of Fellowship of the Ring. The only serious problem I had is that all the poltical nuances (such as the reason Godfrey would want a bastard as his heir, and why that was controversial) are not really covered for the unfamiliar. It's obvious that these were the scenes most heavily cut. Why do studios always cut the character development first, and leave the excess action? 8.5/10 Note: Kingdom of Heaven has perfect-10 potential, but the cuts really hurt the film - both in pacing and intelligibility. If you're not as privy on medieval politics as I am, there's a good chance you'll be left as lost and angry as most of the critics are. Here's hoping the extended uncut DVD remedies these problems.
  6. Some of the jokes fell a little flat (particularly near the end of the movie) and there were a couple missing bits that I felt bad about, but all in all Hitchhiker's was an excellent interpretation of the books. The fact that they acomplished all this madness with just a PG rating has restored a small (read: infinitesimal) ammount of faith in the MPAA. 9/10
  7. I doubt it will be released here untouched. It's one of the few movies in my collection that might actually warrant an actual NC17 for violence. This proves that excellent acting, cinematography, and skilled sound design can ramp up the intensity meter near intolerable. I can't say that many movies blew me away, but this is one of them. It's very, very, very well done. That's also what makes it so disturbing. It's a friggin awesome movie - I just don't want you to have a heart attack before GCO comes out
  8. Christian Bale owns everything he touches. Even The Machinist, which btw had the weakest ending in all of film history.
  9. SC, believe me when I say that this movie is definately not the kind of thing you would want to see. Unless they've censored the hell out of the US release (I don't know if you'd have any movie left) - this makes Sin City look like Bob the Builder. It's called Haute Tension in france (where it originated) and Switchblade Romance in the UK. I already own the Region 2 (UK) DVD and it's by far one of my all-time favorite horrors. But it's gruesome. Really, gutwrenchingly, disturbingly gruesome. My score: 10/10 SC's score (I predict): omg -50/10
  10. That whole season-long "Save the planet from the aliens" plot killed it for me. Not only did it kill it, but each new episode twisted the knife. And Enterprise started out soo good too. Where's the drama, the discovery, the politics, and naval influence? Those are the things that Star Trek used to be about. Every Star Trek since TNG forgot that. Even DS9, an idea that you'd think would be completely safe from stupid season-long action-centric story-arcs, screwed it up before the end. Star Trek is dead. Like every other form of entertainment from my childhood. Stupid people have ruined everything... and they are getting even stupider.
  11. Theres some violence but not really much gore - it's mostly just creepy bizarre scary stuff. Towards the end there's a couple dream-sequence flashback things that have blood in them (used in a symbolic fashion, as opposed to a gruesome fashion). There's only one brief-but-gross part after a babysitter locks herself in a closet... my brother was totally aghast but it made me raise an eyebrow and giggle. I just didn't expect... that. But like I said, it's about on par with Kubrick's The Shining. Same type of content, same level of violence. What ickiness is in there is brief and not gratuitous. The point is very deftly driven home without being overly graphic. In other words, you wont see anything that you wouldn't have seen from Hitchcock.
  12. Carnivale isn't on that list so the answer is "Not yet."
  13. I found out why the critics have been impugning this movie so harshly - the studio did not conduct a critics screening. For the uninitiated, that's editorial suicide. It dosn't help that when studios don't give critics a preview, it sends up a warning flag about the quality of the film (and it's usually right). That, however, is not the case here at all. Amityville, surprisingly, was made a shoestring budget - much like the original. You wouldn't be able to tell from watching it, though - as the effects are some of the most believable seen in a horror film. It goes to show you that avoiding CG not only keeps costs down - it makes your movie look better. Anyhoo, Amityville was slated as a cheap and dirty money maker. What the studio didn't count on was the passion and skill of the filmakers. Hense - the movie recieves absolutely ZERO studio backing... that requires a bigger monetary expenditure after all. Remember, skill and art mean nothing to studios. They only look at the numbers and statistics.
  14. The gods of horror must have heard our prayers because it is starting to seem like old fashioned 70s horror filmaking is on the comeback. First we got House of 1000 Corpses. Not perfect, and horrendously truncated by the mpaa, but a very uncomfortable movie nonetheless. Recently, we got the straight-to-DVD movie Dead Birds, a flawed film but still a creepy throwback to classic haunted house horror. But now - now we have The Amityville Horror. Rock solid bonafide proof that the good old days are not only coming back, but they can be every bit as profitable as PG13 thriller garbage like The Grudge and The Ring. In fact, Amityville was damn near perfect. If I was forced to pick nits, I'd say there was a tad too much exposition near the end and I'd drop the hollywood anticlimax (they just have to get in that one last scare after the movie is technically over. I'm guessing this was studio forced). Now, I don't scare but I am at least aware of what makes for good scares. Lately, listening to the audience scream, giggle, or squirm has been really pissing me off. The reason is - the stuff they usually scream at is so absurd, ridiculous, or stupid that I feel insulted - and I feel disgusted that I am surrounded by people daft enough to fall for it. This time the usual disgust was replaced by genuine amusement. Listening to people vocalize that "Oouague" sound is a definate sign of good scares. Even without that entertainment, there is enough brooding eerie atmosphere for this to stand as a great keep-you-up-all-night primetime flick for years to come. Here we have the best elements of the original The Haunting, The Shining, and Poltergeist. All together this easily makes for the best haunted house movie since the original Legend of Hell House. Really, I cannot recommend this highly enough. It might be on the brink of what SC can handle (not counting the prologue, the violence is about on par with Kubrick's The Shining) but I am just totally jazzed by how well this turned out. Not only did it do the original justice, it surpassed it and exposed a whole new generation of moviegoers to the beauty of old school horror. As an interesting sidenote - I like how they incorporated a small chunk of the dark alternate ending with the final product. I like my Dark Chocolate over Milk Chocolate - and I like my dark endings over the light ones... but I don't think audiences are ready quite yet for that kind of sick conclusion. Here's to hoping they will be in the years to come PERFECT 10, BABY! P.S. Some of the scares are targetted directly at parents. So be forewarned. SPOILER ALERT: Rest assured, however, that the ending is no downer.
  15. quote:Originally posted by Zane Marlowe: Yeah, I gave it top marks for chemistry between the principles, and for general kinetic fun. I'm sure Scriv's going to have something to say about it's failure as art, but I'll give it a 9/10 for entertainment factor. HAHAHA. Oh man, if I had been drinking milk when I read that... That is so true, though.
  16. http://us.yesasia.com They don't have Johnny Mnemonic, though. You can get Region 2 (European) DVDs from Amazon.co.uk
  17. Vol 1 isn't actually worse than Vol 2 - they're pretty much the same as violence goes. It's just that Vol. 2 dosn't fly through it's story so neck-breakingly fast. Actually, now that I really think about it - the animated sequence is probably why people think of Vol.1 as being more violent. In that section the vilence is about as exaggeratedly over-the-top as most unedited adult anime (See: Akira, Spriggan). Except for that animated bit, both movies are pretty much exactly the same on the violence-o-meter. Now - if you have the Japanese version of Vol 1 like I do... well, that's a different story entirely. The Japanese cut is nasty as hell.
  18. Scrivener

    Carnivale

    It's getting late into the year and HBO has not yet made a decision on the fate of Carnivale. For the uninitiated, Carnivale is the most spectacular television show ever to grace a television screen. I've said this about the The Prisoner, and then LOST, but Carnivale transends even these. Carnivale is bloody MAGIC. Netflix the Season 1 DVDs. After seeing just the first two episodes I ran out and bought the box set... then subscribed to HBO just for Season 2. According to the shows creator, the story arc is 3 seasons long... especially after the Season 2 finale, it's painfully obvious there is still a third act left before the story is finished. I can't bear to be left hanging like I was with Millenium - 1 season shy of getting my answers. It's the very reason I subscribe for heavens sakes. If you would like to help save this wonderful show, please visit the HBO forums, send them email, and write them letters. One more season - that's all the fans are asking. http://boards.hbo.com/index.jspa?categoryID=5
  19. Ugh. Been there, Tac. A couple times. It never ends well. I've learned from trial and error how to translate my emotions. The ones I really trust are the ones where I feel 'at peace' near someone. Comfortable would be another term. I've felt this once and blew it (that's really my ONLY regret). It was the final learning experience that brought everything together for me though. Strange thing is my friends are playing matchmaker now and have given me a second chance. We'll see. In any case, relationships that begin with stress are not relationships you want to pursue. But maybe everyone has to learn that lesson the hard way. I did, even though I knew the whole time what I was doing. Funny thing, emotions.
  20. Written by Donnie Darko mastermind, Richard Kelly. Could be a really good movie. I simply hate the repeating voiceover in the trailer, though. Hopefully the films visual style isn't as tiring on the eyes as Man on Fire. I had to watch that in small chunks because it was giving me headaches. That stuff works on shorts and music videos - not so much for 2 hour features.
  21. OMG. Is SC actually defending this megaviolent piece of cinema... from ME? Wow. We must have switched rolls or something. Oh well. I was pretty hard on the movie. I guess I was just expecting the next Kill Bill - and it just didn't quite live up to the technical excelence of those films. My experience with moviemaking has tainted me.
  22. You knew I'd get the first post in, didn't you So, yeah - I didn't like it. Not as in "OMG it sucked", I'm still giving it a 7/10... but it wasn't at all what I expected. In fact I can narrow it down to 3 distinct categories: 1) Censorship - This movie was NOT complete. Several sequences took the Kill Bill Vol.1 way out - either by faux-stylistically dropping to black during moments of intense violence, or by totally whiting out blood and gore (I'm talking solid white). It's obvious which parts work for style and which parts are flat-out censored... especially if you've read the GNs and remember exactly what was in the missing cells. I garauntee there's an unrated directors cut already waiting in wings for DVD. 2) Wooden performances - Worse... deliberately wooden performances. I'm talking really good actors standing still, awkwardly delivering lines - and it shows that they are not comfortable - that these actors know they should be doing something. Hands twitch, lines feel forced and fake... Maybe they just went with all first takes - who knows. But the acting goes from high school drama club to first rate oscar material and back again so often that it's positively jarring. 3) The soundtrack - This is not the emotionally charged type of music that blew us away in the trailer... this soundtrack seems like it belongs in The Big Combo. I know what they were going for - giving it that old noir feel, but that music never really worked to begin with. It's just the best that was available at the time. It never ceases to amaze me how poorly movies incorporate soundtracks these days. The music tells you how to feel, and Sin City's music tells you to feel unimpressed. Artistically it was a really great attempt, but they made some poor decisions that really hurt the film, I think. I also noticed tons of makeup-related continuity errors. Bad ones. And if it were me at the AVID machine, I would have recut the stories so they flowed together a little more coherently... more Pulp Fiction and less Amazing Stories. I do know, however, that the entire movie was shot digitally... and unfortunately here it's obvious. Movies shot on film, even the bad ones, feel more polished and professional than movies shot digitally. Ultimately this comes across on the same quality level as a really good student film. If it really WERE a student film, I'd be blown away. But it's an expensive hollywood blockbuster. I don't know. I want to love Sin City - but I only kinda like it. Can I recomend it? Sure. I want this movie to succeed because of how much that would help Paramount to keep their Watchmen movie on track. But honestly, the graphic novels make for a much more intense experience than the movie. 7/10
  23. Oh god. First Lois Lane... now this. I'll just ignore it like I ignored the last two Star Wars movies. Maybe it will just go away on it's own. But seriously, when is the black hiphop Passion of the Christ due out?
  24. I just picked up Lumines and Metal Gear Ac!d. The bank account is writhing in agony right now. Both are just awesome. Lumines is kinda like Tetris, but timing and foresight is everything. And your blocks of colors arent solid, they slide along other blocks filling in gaps. Metal Gear is a turn-based tactical strategy like XCom or Incubation. I can see myself playing this one a LOT. It's supposed to have multiplayer too, but I dont see the option in the menu.
  25. Who said I bought it? I work for SCEA, after all. Free stuff is the best part of the job Only game I actually paid for there was Untold Legends, and it's great. Now I want to get Lumines. I keep hearing nothing but good things about it. I also have Archer Macleans Mercury on preorder. Now I want that game BAD. Tempt me not with Fifa, devil! Only so much money, you know... and I'm not terribly happy with EAs puke politics buisness strategies. Not to mention I have to drop $250 for the Clash of Kings Limited Edition book next week too. Hopefully this next paycheck is pretty big. I need it.
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