MovieMeditation�s Diary Reviews // �Come and meditate with me!�

Friendo.

01-09-15

FEATURING MOVIEMEDITATION IN...
"HIS FILM DIARY 2015"
or: HOW HE LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING
AND ONLY MAYBE WATCH ONE MOVIE PER DAY
BUT DEFINITELY MOST LIKELY WATCH A WHOLE LOT OF THEM
AND THEN POST ALL OF HIS THOUGHTS IN HOPE OF MOFOS
ACTUALLY WANTING TO CHECK IN ONCE IN A WHILE
AND MAKE MOVIEMEDITATION VERY HAPPY INSIDE
____________________________________

____________________________________

CHAPTER ONE: IN WHICH MOVIEMEDITATION SURRENDERS

Okay, so after a rather inventive but eventually utterly failed attempt in creating a virtual singe-post-orientated movie diary, I have now surrendered at last, and given myself a proper thread to post in. I will most likely not be able to update this thread every single day, but more like once a week, and I will indeed also make a little overview in this post, so you will all be able to look back on my viewing habits and at what date I saw a specific film.

I aim to actually watch 1 movie per day, at the least, but it is not a total necessity as of yet. When I ultimately get deeper into it all as time passes by, then maybe I will realize that I have simply come too far to break the habit, without being a complete idiot. But as of right now, this is nothing but a simple, and yet rather awesomely applicable and passion-filled in-the-dark-glowingly stunningly classy and all-but-classified sensation of a true movie-lovingly film diary�

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CHAPTER TWO: IN WHICH HE POSTS HIS OVERVIEW

So here it finally is, ladies and gentlemen (or at least how it looks as of right now. I do wish I could predict the future and just write it all out for y�all, but you know...). Unfortunately, my original plan on watching one movie per day fell to pieces on Wednesday of July 16th. I never actually expected to finish the year, but I wanted to see how far I could get, and apparently that was the end of the line... Anyways, if you please, you can view all of the movies I watch and have already watched, simply slammed in there, right here right now, or you can also click on the individual links to look for in-depth thoughts and stuff. Everything will progress in here, and I promise that each update will be even more detailed, more passionate, and of course� more breathtakingly awesome than the last!

click links for reviews // * indicates rewatch

JANUARY

1. The Party (1968)*
1. Beauty and the Beast (1991)*
1. Predestination (2014)
2. Area 407 (2012)
3. Hellraiser (1987)
3. Rocky III (1982)
4. You�re Next (2011)*
5. Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)
6. Whiplash (2014)
7. Garden of Words (2013)
8. Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)*
9. Whiplash (2014)*
10. Suspiria (1977)*
11. Pale Rider (1985)
12. Fury (2014)
13. Nightwatch (1994)
14. Birdman (2014)
14. Possession (1981)
15. The Night Stalker (1972)
16. Birdman (2014)*
17. A Tale of Two Sisters (2003)
18. The General (1926)
19. Boyhood (2014)*
20. Foxcatcher (2014)
21. Toy Story (1995)*
22. Toy Story 2 (1999)*
23. American Sniper (2014)
24. Toy Story 3 (2010)*
25. Zero Day (2003)
26. Audition (1999)
27. WALL�E (2008)*
28. Bad Boys (1995)*
29. Up (2009)*
29. Bad Boys II (2003)*
30. Nightcrawler (2014)*
31. The Haunting (1963)

____________________________________

FEBRUARY

1. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
2. Cars (2006)*
3. Adam's Apples (2005)*
4. Klown (2010)*
5. Steamboat Bill, Jr. (1928)
6. Taken 3 (2014)
7. The Theory of Everything (2014)
8. Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)*
9. Inherent Vice (2014)
10. Dances with Wolves (1990)
11. Crank (2006)*
12. Cars 2 (2011)
12. The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971)
13. Kramer vs. Kramer (1979)
14. A Few Good Men (1992)
15. The Tree of Life (2011)*
16. Alyce Kills (2011)
17. Jackass: The Movie (2002)*
18. Jackass Number Two (2006)*
19. Jackass 3D (2010)*
20. Crank 2: High Voltage (2009)*
20. The Fast and the Furious (2001)*
21. Fargo (1996)*
22. Big Hero 6 (2014)
23. 2 Fast 2 Furious (2003)*
24. Inside Llewyn Davis (2013)*
25. Nosferatu the Vampyre (1979)
26. The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (2006)*
27. John Wick (2014)
28. Ivan's Childhood (1962)

____________________________________

MARCH

1. Fast & Furious (2009)*
2. The Apartment (1960)
3. The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
4. Fast Five (2011)*
5. Jiro Dreams of Sushi (2011)
5. Thank You for Smoking (2005)
6. Fast & Furious 6 (2013)*
7. The Graduate (1967)
8. Primer (2004)
9. The Imitation Game (2014)
10. Inherent Vice (2014)*
11. Batman Returns (1992)
12. The Kid with a Bike (2011)
13. Top Five (2014)
14. The Dark Knight (2008)*
15. Escape from L.A. (1996)
16. I Origins (2014)
16. Interstellar (2014)*
17. Bambi (1942)*
18. Superbad (2007)*
19. Winter Sleep (2014)
20. Alien (1979)*
20. The New World (2005)*
21. Ginger Snaps 2: Unleashed (2004)
22. Aliens (1986)*
23. Safety Not Guaranteed (2012)
24. Spirited Away (2001)*
25. Notorious (1946)
26. The Absent One (2014)
27. Beverly Hills Cop (1984)
28. Paradise Lost 2: Revelations (2000)
29. Penguins of Madagascar (2014)
30. Paradise Lost 3: Purgatory (2011)
31. The Shining (1980)*

____________________________________

APRIL

1. The Virgin Spring (1960)
2. Furious 7 (2015)
3. Running Scared (2006)*
4. High and Low (1963)
5. Oculus (2013)*
6. Fantasia (1940)
7. Triangle (2009)*
8. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)*
9. The Crow(1994)
10. Pinocchio (1940)*
11. Rocky IV (1985)
12. Dumbo (1941)*
13. Rocky V (1990)
14. Saludos Amigos (1942)
15. It Follows (2014)
16. The Avengers (2012)*
17. The Three Caballeros (1944)
18. Rocky Balboa (2006)*
19. First Blood (1982)
20. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
21. The Ruins (2008)
22. Wait Until Dark (1967)
23. Thir13en Ghosts (2001)*
24. The Equalizer (2014)
25. Rambo: First Blood Part II (1985)
26. Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)*
27. Starship Troopers (1997)*
28. Make Mine Music (1946)
29. The Darjeeling Limited (2007)
30. Planet of the Apes (1968)

____________________________________

MAY

1. The Last of the Mohicans (1992)
2. Fun and Fancy Free (1947)
3. Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)*
4. Rambo III (1988)
5. Time After Time (1979)
6. Children of Men (2006)*
7. Blade Runner (1982)*
8. Rambo (2008)*
9. Persona (1966)
10. Melody Time (1948)
11. The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949)
12. Cinderella (1950)*
13. Death Proof (2007)*
14. Seven Chances (1925)
15. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)
16. Monster (2003)
17. Paddington (2014)
18. Kill Bill vol. 1 (2003)*
19. Harakiri (1962)
20. Kill vol. 2 (2004)*
21. Basic (2003)
22. Alice in Wonderland (1951)
23. The Caller (2011)*
24. The Tree of Life (2011)*
25. The Bugs Bunny/Road Runner Movie (1979)
25. Sinister (2012)*
26. Paths of Glory (1957)
27. Brazil (1985)
28. Peter Pan (1953)*
29. Shaun the Sheep Movie (2015)
30. Jacob's Ladder (1990)*
31. Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl (2003)*

____________________________________

JUNE

1. Snowpiercer (2013)*
2. Ashes and Snow (2005)
3. In Bruges (2008)
4. The Face of Another (1966)
5. Le Samoura� (1967)
6. Lady and the Tramp (1955)*
7. Still Alice (2014)
8. 1408 (2007)*
9. Paprika (2006)*
10. Jurassic World (2015)
11. Sleeping Beauty (1959)*
12. Gunbuster (1988)
13. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (1961)*
14. Hugo (2011)*
15. The Sword in the Stone (1963)*
16. The Usual Suspects (1995)*

� END OF ONE MOVIE PER DAY �
____________________________________

JULY

5. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)*

8. Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
9. Before Sunrise (1995)*
10. Home (2015)
11. Live and Let Die (1973)
12. The Rock (1996)*
13. 21 Jump Street (2012)*
14. Face/Off (1997)*

17. Con Air (1997)*
18. 22 Jump Street (2014)*
19. Final Destination (2000)*
20. The Tale of the Princess Kaguya (2013)
21. The Third Man (1949)
22. Furious 7 (2015)*
23. Before Sunset (2004)*

25. Killer Joe (2011)
26. Before Midnight (2013)*
27. The Blues Brothers (1980)
28. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)
29. The Poker House (2008)
29. Drag Me to Hell (2009)*
30. Life of Pi (2012)*
31. The Killer (1989)

____________________________________

AUGUST

1. The Beyond (1981)

4. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)
5. Rush Hour (1998)*
5. Rush Hour 2 (2001)*
6. Rush Hour 3 (2007)*

8. E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (1982)*
9. The Fly (1986)*
9. The Shawshank Redemption (1994)*

11. The The Hustler (1961)
11. The Jungle Book (1967)*
12. Birdman (2014)*
13. Freaks (1932)
14. The Outsiders (1983)
14. Corpse Bride (2005)*
15. Backcountry (2014)
16. National Lampoon's Vacation (1983)

19. [�REC] (2007)*
20. Ghost World (2001)
21. Wolf Children (2012)*
21. Quarantine (2008)*

24. Mad Max: Fury Road (2015)*

28. To Kill a Mockingbird (1962)*
29. Bob le Flambeur (1956)
29. The AristoCats (1970)*

31. A Nightmare on Elm Street (1984)*

____________________________________

SEPTEMBER

1. Wes Craven's New Nightmare (1994)*

4. Zombie Flesh Eaters (1979)*

6. Django Unchained (2012)*

8. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
9. Wrong Turn (2003)*
10. Take Shelter (2011)*
11. Daredevil (2003)*
12. Letter from an Unknown Woman (1948)

14. Everest (2015)

16. Night of the Living Dead (1968)
17. Boulevard (2014)
18. Magnolia (1999)*
19. Robin Hood (1973)*

21. San Andreas (2015)
22. The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh (1977)*

24. Platform (2000)

26. Terminator: Genisys (2015)
27. Inherent Vice (2015)*
28. Ted (2012)*
29. Baraka (1992)

____________________________________

OCTOBER

1. The Rescuers (1977)*
1. Maggie (2015)
1. The Gold Rush (1942)*

3. Insidious Chapter 3 (2015)
4. Jurassic World (2015)*
4. Cannibal Holocaust (1980)
5. The Fox and the Hound (1981)
6. Southpaw (2015)
7. The Black Cauldron (1985)

9. Black Mass (2015)
9. The Great Mouse Detective (1986)*
10. Duel (1971)

12. Mission: Impossible - Rogue Nation (2015)*
13. Oliver & Company (1988)
14. The Little Mermaid (1989)*

16. Mr. Turner (2014)*
17. Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)*
17. Vacation (2015)
18. The Rescuers Down Under (1990)*
19. Sicario (2015)
20. Inside Out (2015)
21. Back to the Future (1985)*
21. Back to the Future Part II (1989)*

23. Back to the Future Part III (1990)*
23. Shame (2011)*

25. Beauty and the Beast (1991)*

27. The Raid (2011)*
28. The Raid 2 (2014)*

31. Fright Night (1985)

____________________________________

NOVEMBER

5. Aladdin (1992)*

7. The Lion King (1994)*

10. Pocahontas (1995)*

12. The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)

15. Spy (2015)
16. Hercules (1997)*
17. The Rescuers (1998)*

19. When Marnie Was There (2014)
20. Tarzan (1999)*

22. Fantasia 2000 (1999)
22. Dinosaur (2000)*
23. The Searchers (1956)
24. Ant-Man (2015)
25. Knock Knock (2015)
26. The Emperor's New Groove (2000)*

29. Atlantis: The Lost Empire (2001)

____________________________________

DECEMBER

1. Lilo & Stitch (2002)*

3. Treasure Planet (2002)

6. American Splendor (2003)
6. Summer '92 (2016)
6. Brother Bear (2003)*

8. Home on the Range (2003)
9. Chicken Little (2005)

11. Meet the Robinsons (2007)*

14. Reservoir Dogs (1992)*
14. Jackie Brown (1997)*
14. Bolt (2008)*
15. The Princess and the Frog (2009)*

17. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
18. Tangled (2010)*
19. Winnie the Pooh (2011)*
19. Sicario (2015)*
20. �kte Vare (Flow) (2014)
21. Wreck-It Ralph (2012)*

23. Edward Scissorhands (1990)*

25. Frozen (2013)*
25. Christmas Vacation (1989)
25. Klovn Forever (2015)
26. Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)*
27. Sicko (2007)
28. Big Hero 6 (2014)*

____________________________________

CHAPTER THREE: IN WHICH HE SAYS GOODBYE

So this is it, ladies and gentlemen... the burden is gone. My entire year of 2015 in film has been reviewed in this nice little thread. I hope you had fun and enjoyed this as much as myself. Thank you all for joining in and leaving your comments and reps I endlessly appreciate it. Forever.

____________________________________
it's gonna be the realest movie diary experience you ever had...

Last edited by MovieMeditation; 08-28-17 at 04:46 PM.

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-09-15

MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
11 .......................... 9
__________________________

January 1st

The Party (1968)*

Just plain old slapstick humor! I love this one, and although it mainly plays on gags and fun without much story, it doesn't try to be anything but that. You are just having a great time and it is ideal to watch with a bunch of friends or family members. Peter Sellers is awesome and the fact that everything is mainly improvised makes it even better. There is so many classic scenes in it that it makes up for what is less great!

Beauty and the Beast (1991)*

One of my favourite Disney classics. The animation is gorgeous to look at, with swift and smooth panning, through all these stunning and colorful images. The story is perhaps clich� but the execution is grounded and surprisingly dramatic for an animated film. It feels ambitious and only loose it a bit towards the end when it relies to much on comic relief. Apart from that this is a strong consistent Disney film.

Predestination (2014)

The movie itself doesn't really make sense when it comes down to it, but it's still a lot of fun, even despite the fact that this isn't really an action sci-fi thriller. This is actually a drama, even though it was promoted otherwise, but anyways good performances, nice looking visuals and a fine soundtrack. Just unfortunate that it gets lost in its own mess and think it's better and wiser than what it really is.

In an attempt to quickly catch up to today's date, I will simply toss out all of the movies, going all the way from January 1st to January 8th, with nothing but a pathetic rating and not one single thought, pictures, whatever...

January 2nd

Area 407 (2012)

January 3rd

Hellraiser (1987)

I think it was a bad idea to show Pinhead that clearly in the first couple of minutes of the movie, it really made him appear less intimidating right from the start.

Also, I will also just come with something right from the beginning here: Pinhead felt like a cool character but honestly totally out of place in this story in my opinion. He just popped up once in a while and never felt entirely threatening, which was most likely because of bad scriptwriting and story build-up. The acting was fine, but the story was so incomplete that it felt like an entire novel desperately turned into a 1,5 hour picture. It never finished all of what it had started and appeared quite messy overall � even considering that it wasn�t exactly what you would call a big and wide-reaching movie. But I really liked the fun and pretty well done practical effects, and the idea of the blood bringing you back etc. Overall I just wasn�t impressed at all though�

Rocky III (1982)

January 4th

You're Next (2011)

I have actually been looking forward to finally watch this film, mainly because I see the director, Adam Wingard, as a great newcomer to the horror genre and cinema in general, and I truly think he has potential to become a memorable moviemaker of this time

On one occasion, I watched the first 25 minutes or more of it, but it didn't entirely catch my attention and I thought I had better give it another go some time, when I felt more up for it. It would be a shame if my mood was what would end up ruining my experience with the film. Now, when it received a nomination in the Horror HoF there's no excuses or ways around it, and I�m happy to finally be able to see it. Unfortunately, I can't really say I left this film feeling satisfied in any way...

First off, it actually seems like it wasn�t me who was in the wrong mood back when I turned this off half an hour into the film. Right from the start it does a lazy job at getting our attention. The build up is quite poorly done and the characters introduced come across as totally uninteresting. First off we get the obligatory opening horror kill sequence, and there is really nothing new here. Then we slowly and monotony get introduced to the various characters, which pretty much all lack any kind of depth or development. But since this is a horror film I can forgive this area though, and perhaps they will change over time as the movie progresses�

When things start to go down, I instantly became annoyed with the characters, which just confirmed my observation even further. They were all simply yelling and screaming for an unbroken period of 10 minutes or so, and not in a frightened and well-acted kind of way, but just plain annoying screams and you couldn't separate one from the other. Obviously, there was the girl who ends up becoming the leading character, who was pretty much the only one with a sense of variation from the others. Not only were the characters annoying and one-sided, they acted completely stupid in a way you would never do and that pissed me off, especially combined with the many clich�s. I hate it when suspense or terror is created purely out of the fact that the characters must be brainless to follow through with a plot point...

You're Next is filled with clich�s as well, which didn't truly annoy me at first, since I know the director has a soft spot for doing homages to different genres and eras of cinema. But this just wasn't done in a respectful or inventive manner, or even lifted the movie to a higher level of originality or enjoyment. It just became utterly predictable, and you could simply just sit there and point out pretty much everything that would happen next (I really didn't know the title of the film referred to the many clich�s of the horror genre... who would have thought?)

The humour in the film threw me off several times as well. In my book it is hard to balance humour and horror unless you go all the way to one side (like Shaun of the Dead or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil). For me it didn�t work at all, because I had no idea when to laugh and when not to. It felt like it tried to hard to be funny and it just came across as unprofessional and poorly directed instead.

When it comes to the soundtrack, it was a bit all over the place. Towards the end it slowly turned into this 80s synthetic sounding ballad, which reminded me of his recent film The Guest which I really enjoyed. I guess it was okay. At least better than the aggressive and repetitive soundtrack coming before it, which wasn't good in my opinion. The visuals were fine, the acting acceptable, but overall I had a hard time enjoying this because of all the stupidity, mistakes and mishaps to be found, which ended up completely over-shining the greater parts of the film.

January 5th

Hellbound: Hellraiser II (1988)

Okay, so this was actually a huge surprise to me and oddly enough I loved it as it went on, even though I wasn't really a fan the original at all...

I think they exploited the concept and characters a lot more in this, and also explored the actual idea of a connection between life and dead. I loved how it began right after the first, and it sort of reminded me of a Hellraiser version of the quite successful Halloween II.

It seemed as if the director and writer wanted to use more time on creating an interesting follow-up, and because of all the flashbacks and connections to the original this could actually be seen on totally its own, which I really liked the thought of since I enjoyed it so much. But then, suddenly out of nowhere, it pretty much turned to **** from one second to the other. I don�t know what happened, it seemed as if another director took over, or maybe the director didn�t trust in the slow but tense atmosphere he had created, and instead went with campy effects, campy humour and totally insane decisions. What happened?

I even liked the movie as they entered Hell because of it feeling quite crazy but controlled. But around the time when the doctor turned inhuman - which was totally unnecessary in my opinion and Pinhead was once again a secondary character - that is when it just fell to the floor, and got worse and worse as time went by. The last half hour sort of reminded me of an extreme R-rated version of Poltergeist meets The Never-ending Story, and just came across as a fantasy family-orientated film � in its execution, not story or gory-wise.

It is such a shame because I actually really loved it up until then. It was self-aware and had a perfect balance of the horror elements and the more dramatic elements, and it was well-developed and very well shot as well. I love when the camera in a horror movie acts lively and sort of dwells in various corners and corridors throughout the film (sort what James Wan is doing today as well). It even had some impressive symmetry in its shots and the soundtrack was fittingly epic and godlike in its scale and sound. Typical, yes perhaps, but defiantly effective.

My rating of 3/5 may be a bit too much considering the fact that it is pretty much two different films together in one. But there was so much I liked, and I just don�t want to **** all over the film when it actually was quite great most of the time. I think we are talking about 1 hour and 15 minutes worth of a good horror film, and then about 25 minutes of campy stupidity...

January 6th

Whiplash (2014)

January 7th

Garden of Words (2011)

+

January 8th

Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)*

__________________
/watching movies for mark f/
MovieMeditation's Cinema Reviews // Film Diary 2015 // Letterboxd Profile // MovieMeditation's Top 50 Horror

Last edited by MovieMeditation; 05-11-15 at 09:27 PM.

Captain Spaulding

Defending Champ

01-09-15

Originally Posted by MovieMeditation

[center]FEATURING MOVIEMEDIATION IN...
"HIS FILM DIARY 2015"
or: HOW HE LEARNED TO STOP WORRYING
AND ONLY MAYBE WATCH ONE MOVIE PER DAY
BUT DEFIANTLY MOST LIKELY WATCH A WHOLE LOT OF THEM
AND THEN POST ALL OF HIS THOUGHTS IN HOPE OF MOFOS
ACTUALLY WANTING TO CHECK IN ONCE IN A WHILE
AND MAKE MOVIEMEDIATION VERY HAPPY INSIDE

Catchy title. It rolls right off the tongue.

I always look forward to your thoughts and write-ups in other threads, MM, so I'll definitely be dropping in on this thread quite often. Loving the layout so far, too.

Let's meditate!

__________________

Letterboxd

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-12-15

MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
14 .......................... 12
__________________________

January 9th

Whiplash (2014)*

Even after a rewatch this is an incredibly powerful film. Obviously, it is fairly implausible to top the viewing experience it gave me the first time around, but I still stand by all of what I thought was great, but of course it has a few flaws here and there. Some movies though, I feel like you shouldn't judge like any other movie - and this is one of them. The movie never needs time to get going, it is already moving fast and controlled from the very beginning. 'Whiplash' made me sweat and sit on the edge of my seat like I was watching the most intense bomb disposal scene in a great and exciting action thriller. It simply just drums away for a virtually unbridled pace and torpedoing all mediocre melodramas in its path... Such a great film overall in my opinion.

January 10th

Suspiria (1977)

Read my full review in the Horror HoF thread

The very first time I watched this film I wasn�t sure what to expect but in fact I ended up being quite impressed with its experimental soundtrack and visuals, as well as the overall feel of the film. And when watching Suspiria for the second time, I could focus more on the different elements of the film; the ones I noticed the first time, and those that went by fairly unnoticed. The soundtrack is still something I respect, where the soundscape perhaps isn�t listenable on its own, but actually tries to get under our skin using unfamiliar techniques and unique approaches. But unfortunately the soundtrack showed more flaws the second time around.

The visuals wasn�t as impressive this time around either, but I still really like them, and together with the soundtrack I still think it does a great job at creating this strange and gloomy atmosphere that lifts the film from being a truly boring watch� Unfortunately, it all have a potential that is higher than its unbalanced and hit-or-miss execution. Still, with all the flaws I could probably find myself watching this again at some point.

January 11th

Pale Rider (1985)

Eastwood has done thousands of westerns, and it is hard not to see this one as rather, well, pale in comparison. It feels like it takes on a tired and old storyline that you have seen many times before, and made in 1985 it also feels like it came a few years too late. Not that you can't make westerns nowadays, but this one just felt more like a camping trip than a real classic western. Eastwood is great at capturing the atmosphere and all the small stylistic features that make a western what it is. But unfortunately the script truly suffers, as I thought it was mostly poorly written and clumsy. But still, you can never deny that you almost always have a pretty decent time when Mr. Eastwood puts on his cowboy hat and pull out his six shooter...

Last edited by MovieMeditation; 01-16-15 at 03:17 PM.

christine

Dreams is freedom

01-12-15

I'll be checking in to see what you've been watching MM!

cricket

Registered User

01-12-15

I'll be looking forward to checking out all your updates. Whiplash and Garden of Words are 2 I'd like to see.

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-16-15

MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
19 .......................... 16
__________________________

January 12th

Fury (2014)

It was pretty much as I expected it to be, but not what I hoped for. Unfortunately, it was this clich�d Hollywood mess, with too much stupidity, mediocre writing and forced heroism. The characters weren't really that interesting, the story was paced and writing kind of unbalanced and overall I just wasn't at all impressed by this film. It is more of an insult to the ones fightning in the war to be honest...

January 13th

Nightwatch (1994)

Review from the Horror HoF thread
I will come off here and say right off the bat that this film was actually much better than I expected or that it had any right to be for that matter. I think I might have seen bits and pieces of it a long time ago, but even though it is a pretty well known and well-respected danish horror film, I have never watched it in its entirety as far as I can remember. So I'm really glad this got nominated and without further ado, here are my thoughts on it...

Though I indeed think it did a fairly good job at making a pretty entertaining little thriller I don't think it is anything that special, and people from around the globe might not be as impressed or captivated as some Danes got, especially around its original release. 'Nightwatch' is basically just the danish people making (or trying to make) a horror movie; nothing more nothing less. It plays out much like a typical danish drama thriller, with the danish humour and all that. But apart from some slight originality here and there, I feel like it borrows a whole lot from the well-valued vault of classic horrors. All the way from the music, to the story, to the visuals � all are exactly what you�d come to expect from every other film from its genre. Only difference is that this is a lot less scary and a lot more danish lol.

I will admit the acting was fine, and there were two absolutely hilarious scenes in it, and a few shots actually looked gorgeous and was build-up impressively well for a danish independent horror film. The story, unfortunately, doesn't exactly keep you guessing as much as you would like to, but it is a fun little film that doesn't impress you much maybe, but it is pretty entertaining for just a relaxing afternoon or something. It is also extremely fun to see all these danish actors in their younger up-and-coming days. Not many on this forum will understand, except for maybe Nikolaj Coster-Waldau, which a lot of y'all know from Game of Thrones. Some may know Kim Bodnia, but that is pretty much it...

It is a hit or miss movie, maybe you will like it, maybe you won't, but I don't think it is that bad or anything, it has just been done many times before and to me it doesn't really stand out � not as a film and not at all as a horror. It is more a thriller to me, but I'm still really glad it got nominated. Always fun to see something you always wanted to see or that you never even heard of.

January 14th

Birdman (2014)
N/A

Currently fixing up a full review for this movie, which will be in my Cinema Review thread soon...

Last edited by MovieMeditation; 01-18-15 at 09:09 AM.

Daniel M

...

01-16-15

I didn't like Fury much either, I did a review of it and gave it 2.5, I pretty much agree with you. Really hoping you liked Birdman.

hello101

Registered User

01-16-15

Is there lots of gore in Fury? Call me sick but I like a fair amount of blood and gore in war films. They look very cool.

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-16-15

MovieMeditation presents...
HIS FILM DIARY 2015
total movie count ........... current day count
19 .......................... 16
__________________________

January 14th

Possession (1981)

Review from the Horror HoF thread
I knew very little about this film going in, and that is almost always a great thing. When you can simply sit down and immerse yourself into something that has nothing but your interest, and you are without any form knowledge, experience or anything of that matter. I had barely read the plot synopsis, so I was actually pretty excited. Unfortunately it didn't turn out at all like my kind of movie...

So, basically we are just thrown into the midst of things without much knowledge of who the characters are and what is going to happen, and I liked that. The way it was set up and the way the first half hour of the movie moved forward, almost felt like Rosemary's Baby, which of course was a great plus! I love horror movies that are not necessarily full-blown genre flicks, but instead seamlessly cross between other genres. Especially drama works great, as you are sometimes left in the dark to what is happening, which is also what this movie used, and I liked that. But as the film progressed, it just became worse and worse to me. It went from feeling mostly professionally made and well acted, to some extremely weird and campy indie feature or something. What the hell was that about?

The story gets quite messy and incoherent, and you are never really told much about anything. And it doesn't help much either, when it all just gets weirder and more f*cked up as time goes by. My most hated aspect was when the characters in the film was "possessed" or looked like being possessed. Waving their hands around the air and acting like they tried to get accepted into the amateur play in middle school. Especially when the female lead was in the tunnels of the subway station, and out of nowhere, began to do this impression of a crack head doing heavy-metal head banging to the sound of absolute silence. That is, forgetting about the annoying screams she continues to do throughout the scene. That scene just went on forever, and suddenly I just broke out into laughter and couldn't believe what was happening. The character was just rolling around the floor and tossing herself around and up the walls while screaming and shouting like a mad person! I mean, what am I supposed to feel here, exactly?

And from there on, it even gets weirder than that; tons of unexplained things happening, people bleeding, people dying, people screaming, people getting eaten, and people having sex with inhuman creatures. I mean, what the hell am I supposed to think of all this? I feel like my eyes began to hurt from all this, and my brain got badly insulted and began to melt out of my ear, in about two hours or more. And what is even worse is that it looked to be such a great film in the beginning. The visuals were nice and natural, the soundtrack was not that present but very experimental and haunting when it was there, and the acting seemed great and I really love Sam Neill as well. But sorry, this just wasn't for me at all. It was missing consistency, focus, and control. It was just an ugly mess in my opinion� unfortunately.

January 15th

The Night Stalker (1972)

Review from the Horror HoF thread
Okay. So after a streak of somewhat mediocre, disappointing or downright dreadful movies, I was really hoping that one of these Horror HoF films would come to my rescue some day. And finally, the most unexpected wonder happened out of nowhere, when I witnessed this little unknown made-for-television flick called 'The Night Stalker'. Thank you, hello101 for recommending it into this HoF!

This is a rather short movie, with a running time lasting only about 74 minutes, and thankfully we jump right into the story in the very first frame, so luckily there is no time wasted. The movie is basically set up and played out just like an investigation crime thriller, and we have this voice-over popping into focus once in a while, giving us the facts and findings in this murder mystery that once happened. It is a great approach, as it makes the movie feel like a noir-type film, and it really suits the movie greatly. And as we get to know all the characters I quickly realized that even those were well written and, not to forget, extremely well acted too.

So, where does the horror come in? Well, as I have said before I love horror films that cross between genres, and this was a crossover I hadn't really seen before; at least not like this... It is basically a cross between a noir crime thriller and a horror vampire flick. The way they have balanced it all out is quite unique and impressive, because as I said earlier, it plays out like an investigation of "just another case" in a crime universe, and therefore the character of the vampire is treated like any other murderer in town. Like, if someone really stumbled upon a vampire in real life and had to figure out what to do. But the vampire aspect is just as interesting and followed through, as we hear about all the classic myths and find out exactly how this person lives, sleeps and all other interesting vampire facts.

It is definitely a small film, but still impressively made and nicely paced. We are thrown into the midst of it all from the start without much warning, as I said, then we hear about what happened and how no one seems to be able to make sense of it all, then we hear about how they proceed and how they get closer to the murderer, then all the theories starts to come forward and they are closing in on the suspect, and so on � exactly how you would experience a real life investigation, and you really feel like you are a part of it all. Not only because of the way the story builds up, but also because of the way it is filmed, scored and acted. A perfect noir crime thriller with a great little TWIST, and I had so much fun with this! It worked better than I could have imagined, and now it looks like my Top 50 Horror List needs a little changing before I post it...

Last edited by MovieMeditation; 03-26-15 at 01:33 PM.

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-16-15

Originally Posted by hello101

Is there lots of gore in Fury? Call me sick but I like a fair amount of blood and gore in war films. They look very cool.

There kind of is yes. Maybe not that regularly but when it is there it is quite graphic, yes. And I agree that war should be shown in a violent and gritty matter, as it adds to the realism. Unfortunately 'Fury' misses so many important notes that it didn't matter if it was gory or not. It just wasn't good...

hello101

Registered User

01-16-15

Have you watched the newest Rambo?

BlueLion

I'm deranged

01-16-15

Originally Posted by MovieMeditation

Especially when the female lead was in the tunnels of the subway station, and out of nowhere, began to do this impression of a crack head doing heavy-metal head banging to the sound of absolute silence. That is, forgetting about the annoying screams she continues to do throughout the scene. That scene just went on forever, and suddenly I just broke out into laughter and couldn't believe what was happening. The character was just rolling around the floor and tossing herself around and up the walls while screaming and shouting like a mad person! I mean, what am I supposed to feel here, exactly?

She was told by the director to "f*** the air" in that scene.

and she obviously delivered the goods

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-16-15

Originally Posted by hello101

Have you watched the newest Rambo?

I have, but not since its theatrical run... Fury is NOTHING close to that. Fury is a Disney flick beside Rambo 4.

Originally Posted by BlueLion

She was told by the director to "f*** the air" in that scene.

and she obviously delivered the goods

Okay, that gives me a whole new and bettered perspective on the director. Looks like he is indeed f*cking insane (if you know what I mean lol).

And I must say, that acting was a bad interpretation of a woman suffering, but a quite impressive "air f*cking" scene, yes.

JayDee

Miss Vicky's Loyal and Willing Slave

01-16-15

Glad to see you enjoyed Night Stalker so much MM. I'm a big fan of the Kolchak films and TV show, so is honeykid. While most people prefer the first I've always liked the sequel, The Night Strangler, more.

__________________

JayDee's 100 Favourite Films

JayDee's DVD Collection

JayDee's Movie Musings (Reviews - Frailty / Total Recall / Lone Ranger / Nightcrawler / Whiplash / Imitation Game / Birdman / Avengers: Age of Ultron / Mad Max: Fury Road)

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-16-15

Yeah, I knew nothing about it going in, and not before honeykid mentioned it I knew nothing about the existence of anything before or after.

So I definitely gotta check out that sequel, and the tv series as well! Thanks for mentioning!

Last edited by MovieMeditation; 03-26-15 at 01:33 PM.

cricket

Registered User

01-17-15

I'm still disappointed that you didn't like Possession, but I'm looking forward to Nightwatch very much now.

I still would like to see Fury.

Captain Spaulding

Defending Champ

01-18-15

Originally Posted by MovieMeditation

Birdman (1994)
N/A

Currently fixing up a full review for this movie, which will be in my Cinema Review thread soon...

Birdman is a 1994 film? Man, talk about flying under the radar! 10 years and I've never heard a single thing about it until a few months ago!

I'm looking forward to your review, MM. I haven't seen Birdman yet, but I have very high expectations. If it isn't my favorite movie of 2014, or at least in my final top three, once I've seen everything I want to see, I'll be disappointed. That's how much I expect to love it.

Of the four westerns Eastwood directed, I think Pale Rider is easily the weakest. I like Suspiria just a tad more than you. I haven't seen any of the other movies you've meditated about lately. My excitement for Whiplash rises with every enthusiastic response I read on here. I don't have high expectations for Fury, but I think I'll like it more than you and Daniel M. The made-for-TV designation initially turned me off, but after reading your review, I've added The Night Stalker to my watch list.

Namaste.

MovieMeditation

Friendo.

01-18-15

Originally Posted by Captain Spaulding

The made-for-TV designation initially turned me off, but after reading your review, I've added The Night Stalker to my watch list.

Namaste.

Thanks for meditating a bit with me Spaulding, it makes me feel happy inside!

Yeah, I guess I kind of have raised the bar for the how good The Night Stalker is, and got you and cricket very interested about it. But honestly, it is not something you will necessarily be blown away by. But I think I stated all the reasons why I think it is good in my review, even if it is a smaller film, so I will not defend it if you hate it haha. And hey, 74 minutes? Even if it sucked it wouldn't be that big a deal now would it?

JayDee