Scrivener

This new Showtimes series follows this basic premise: Give 13 of the most internationally-acclaimed horror directors $1m each to shoot whatever they want, free of any restrictions like censorship, common decency, or the MPAA, and see what happens. The results so far are very promising. The first episode was written and directed by nicest-guy-in-the-world Don Coscarelli (Bubba Ho-tep, Phantasm) and is titled "Incident On and Off a Mountain Road." The story itself has many familiar tinges, reminding the savvy cinephile of such classics as "The Hills Have Eyes", "Texas Chainsaw Massacre", and even the recent "Haute Tension" ("High Tension" to you poor saps who only saw the American theatrical cut). The acting ranges from so-so to decent but the production values are good enough that the more amateur bouts of acting are forgiveable and forgettable. Still, for having absolutely NO restrictions, the film wasn't quite as gruesome as I had hoped it would be. But then, Mr. Coscarelli has his own way of portraying events that's a little more Hitchcock than Argento (who directed an "episode" himself). I have it on good authority that future installments should adequately satisfy my bloodlust, however. The short order is: if you miss the days of unrestrictive 70s-style horror... Masters of Horror may be just the show for you. 13 episodes, 1 hour each, no limits. Now there's a reason to finally watch Showtime again. [ 10-31-2005, 02:36 PM: Message edited by: Supreme Cmdr ]

I'm starting to think that Peter Jackson may be living the life that Orsen Wells should have. So long as Kong makes makes money... I wonder what Jackson's third movie will be?

I wasn't terribly keen on the first so I might sit this one out. If there's one thing I can't abide it's neutered mainstream "horror."

I've been hearing a lot about this one. Apparently they've been doing tons of preview screenings overseas in the UK and early cuts are supposed to supremely f****d up, high-end NC17 material. That alone has me giddy with excitement, even though I know we'll end up getting the neutered down semi-sterilized R-rated version (the R rating really dosn't go as far as it used to. Bloody oversensitive Americans). Anyhoo, the trailer is now available and looks very promising - like SAW without the suckage. Check it out... http://movies.yahoo.com/feature/hostelqt1.html

It's still nowhere near as brilliant as the first Exorcist (had Schrader the budget to finish post properly it may have been better) - and it's not really all that scary - but it is a very effective dramatic prologue to the first movie.

For the uninitiated it is vitally important to understand this film's unique history, as the circumstances are entirely without precedent. In 1999 Warner Brothers began work on an Exorcist prequel with John Frankenheimer set to direct. The story was to be drawn from elements of William Peter Blatty's book not touched on in the first movie. More precisely, the source of Father Lancaster Merrin's (Stellan Skarsgard in both Schrader and Harlins films, Max von Sydow in the original) particular religious dilemma. The original screenplay was developed and written by William Wisher Jr. (Terminator 2, 13th Warrior, Judge Dredd) with contributions by Caleb Carr. When John Frankenheimer became ill in 2000, well into preproduction, Warner then attached Paul Schrader (American Gigolo) to the project. In it's original form the story was primarily concerned with faith, temptation, facing one's own demons (literally and figuratively). Schrader was given a reasonable budget of $40m to make the film as written. What Schrader delivered in early 2003 was a serious, contemplative drama. The studio was incensed. Clearly they wanted blood, guts, green vomit, and heads spinning. In an unprecedented move that shocked the entire industry, Warner executives stuck the film in a vault, fired everyone involved, and brought in Renny Harlin (Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger, Driven) to remake the film as he saw fit... provided it was adequately "shocking." Schraders cut was shown to a select few during the time Harlin worked on his version and, despite the studios displeasure with Schraders version of the film, the word that got out was quite positive. Until now, the only version available to the public was Harlins sloppy big-budget CG-fest. I can say with great enthusiasm (especially if you hated Harlins as much as I did) that Paul Schraders version is a vastly superior film. It does, however, have a rather absurd climax  which is not so much the fault of the script or the direction, but because of budgeting issues. When the studio canceled the film, the soundtrack and effects were not complete and Schrader was forced to improvise on shoestrings when the studio decided to resurrect it. Most of the film gets by just fine without the bells and whistles  its not a very high-tech movie and most of the effects in the film were practical with very little CG. A proper soundtrack would have benefited the film greatly, to be sure, but it never gets in the way that is, until the films climax. Right when things start to get the most interesting the soundtrack suddenly becomes like something out of a low-budget 80s horror film. To make matters worse, we are assaulted with a very cheap, very cheesy looking northern-lights effect (again, reminiscent of a very cheap 80s lightning rotoscoping) that permeates every scene. Its a sad thing when cheapness like this manages to creep into an otherwise great film especially during its climax. It can ruin the entire experience and sadly it comes very close to doing that here (and for many people, Im sure it will do just that). The rest of Dominion however is carried magnificently by a fantastic cast, excellent script, and interesting twist on the possession. Sure Dominion is not without its faults but those are almost exclusively a result of having to budget with which to finish the movie. With this in mind you may appreciate it more for what it is  a great drama whose moral is as literal as it is figurative. Better, it meshes much more readily with the original 1973 hit than other Exorcist sequel/prequel to date. That alone makes it worth at least one viewing. 8/10 For SC: The gore level is so low as to be virtually nonexistent. I can't for the life of me figure out why this is rated R and not PG-13.

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For the last week Kevin Smith has been filming "The Passion of the Clerks" right across the street from my house... right under my nose. I only just noticed on the way home from a friends that the old Burger King husk has been transformed into a... Moobys. No kidding. I'm going to snap some pics first thing in the morning.

Complete and utter CRAP. The Fog was bad in that it was amateurish and had piss poor production values. Doom was bad in, arguably, a much worse way... it was boring as f***. Where do I start... god, it's just... everything was done wrong. *sigh* They missed every opportunity to capitalize on the game's best thematic elements... the characters were all total losers (these guys are more likely to be laid out on heroin in a roach infested appartment then elite soldiers). Whoever wrote the script needs to be castrated and left on a dessert island with only bottles of piss to quench his thirst. Then the omgwewrotethisforjetli fight at the end... I just... I want those two hours of my life back. I felt so bad for dragging my friend there I promised the next three movies are on me. I have a headache. I'm gonna take some Bayer and go to bed. Please, for the love of god. Don't see this. And don't drag your friends to it. They don't deserve that. Nobody deserves that. 1/10

My boss was working with me in the field today and he was lucky enough to get into the premiere (that bastard). Anyhoo, he said it was way better than he thought it would be. Messy, fun, an unapologetic. Apparently the whole genetic engineering thing isn't as Resident Evil as I feared. Still, a portal to hell would have been a much better story idea IMO. You know, like Event Horizon. I guess they had the whole portal plot device set up so it's anybodys guess why they didn't run with it. Oh well. I'm there opening night.

One of the worst scores in RottenTomatoes history.

I've made a conscious decision not to go see this right away. Man on Fire made me physically ill because of how it was treated and this looks very similar. Would that be a correct assessment?

quote:Originally posted by Raziel: Can't they just kill James like in the books? That would be fun I'd have Sean Connery as an elderly Bond. He's not so much an action hero any more as much as a diplomat type of spy. The movie would deal with the issue of growing old, feeling useless, and would give Connery-Bond one last hurrah before he sacrifices himself in the service of the Her Majesty the Queen. Just another great movie I'll most certainly never see.

I need a transfusion of good scary cinema stat! Wow, this was even worse than I dreamed... but, I *had* to see exactly how they butchered this remake of the John Carpenter classic. And butcher it they did... to the point where the SciFi channel's Frankenfish seems like Casablanca in comparison. Ok - we have CG EVERYTHING, and it's bad CG - every frame of every shot looks as real as Gary Busey's teeth. Hell, even the actors reek of fake. But, hey, this is what happens when you have a steaming pile of grandma's bowel movement for a script, a bunch of talentless pretty faces for a cast, and a director whose career centers around Stigmata and a handfull of MC Hammer music videos. For the love of God don't see this. Don't even consider seeing it. Take that $10, go to Walmart, and buy the original John Carpenter version on DVD for comfortable home viewing. 0/10

That sounds suspiciously similar to how Activision killed Troika over Vampire Bloodlines. Although in all fairness, Atari had a hand in that as well when they screwed Troika over Temple of Elemental Evil as well.

Funny... but last I checked the 360 didn't even have an HDDVD drive let alone plans for BluRay support, so I don't know why Gates is so mad. He's the one that sided with the losing/inferior format (especially when running against an actual movie studio/home theatre manufacturer). Besides, technological obsolescence is just a reality of pushing your product out early.

According to Rotten Tomatoes, Wallace and Gromit just beat History of Violence as the best reviewed movie of the year 97% to 88%.

YAY! This was the movie I desperately wanted Sin City to be. The characters are realistic, believable, and dynamic... and the story is positively great (I'm tickled by the movies message that "ultimately, violence solves everything"). My one complaint is that it feels a little short at 95 minutes. The version that screened at Sundance was over two hours so there's something missing there. I couldn't really guess what it is since the editing is very tight, definately not suffering from the usual "I've been studio-butchered-itis." I'm guessing the already very-realistic brutality was toned down a bit, but I just wish there was a little more. This is definately old-school movie making - the kind I go gaga over - and it's done perfectly. It is very reminiscent of Kubrick, Hitchcock, Lynch, and Cronenberg's own classic works. IMO, this is one of those challenging classics that deserves a place right up there with Clockwork Orange, American History X, and Taxi Driver. 10/10 + Cinema Classic Status

Absolutely LOVED the movie. I was a little bummed about **** getting killed but I don't know anyone who didn't call ********. Still, it leaves me wanting MORE, dammit. I know movie sequels are more likely but I hope to God SciFi or Fox restarts the TV show. I just don't really want to wait 3-4 years between installments, you know? 10/10

When Starforce was first used (I forget which game. But it was before Soldiers: HoWW2) it physically damaged my dvd-rom as a result of their stealth drivers dictating optical drive functionality. At first I replaced the drive with the same model from Frys, oblivious to the cause, but right after I did so I couldn't play my games. The tech line said I had to reinstall said games and - wham - the new drive died too. Armed with this new information I bought a different brand drive and havn't had any problems since. Still, I wanted to send the bill to the jerks at Starforce for putting me through that crap. Since then, I've had more problems with the latest version of SecuROM, which has been causing some of my games to crash. At least Starforce *works.* On that note, I'm still vehemently opposed to any and all copy protection PERIOD - at least until Steam gets more stable (I rather like the concepts behind Steam). Ultimately it only hurts the legitimate users and there's no two-ways about it.

Sounds pornographic. At any rate, I'm just not into legal dramas. Boston Legal is about about close as I'll get to that stuff.

If you guys havn't checked out the demo yet, you really really need to. It's an adventure game unlike anything else you've ever played. Every little action you take is logged by the game and has sometimes minor, sometimes drastic effects on the game. It can also end at any time like the old Journeyman Project games, so you just have to be happy with the play time and whetever ending(s) you end up with. It's like those "Choose your own adventure books" I used to be really into as a kid... and it's equally immersive. I just ordered the UK version through Gameplay.com (called Fahrenheit) and can't wait for it to get here. The US version is called Indigo Prophesy and has had some content censored (it's still an M, though, because the execs at Atari are friggin retards). If you're waiting for the next Longest Journey (at least until the recently-delayed Dreamfall rolls around) then check it out!

I just got my copy from Gameplay (God bless them for shipping internationally). I have to learn the game all over again, and I was a diehard 2150/Moon Project/Lost Souls fan. So far it looks like they really outdid themselves. Graphics are gorgeous, all the gameplay seems to be intact... and the story seems pretty decent this time around. It does look like the uber-weapons (WMDs) got nerfed big time. It's a bummer, but I can live with it.

Did I not call this one? I so predicted this was going to happen, even before the Hot Coffee controversy. That was just the big political blow-up they needed to kick their unconstitutional fascist control over the freedom of speech up a notch. All you whiny babies that supported the ESRB's attack on GTA:SA, you are just as responsible for what is coming as anyone. Even if they fail in the short-term, this is where the country is heading. They'll just outright make it illegal to modify games.

Oh man, I havn't had this kind of trio of good movies in one day since... well, ever. Another Oscar-caliber film in the same vein as City of God or Osama... just, in english. If you think the trailers and reviews have spoiled it - it's not so much about what happened to Justin's wife and why... as it is about the hidden truths he finally discovers about himself *and* her... only it's unfortunately after the fact. VERY highly recommended. 10/10