silent hill (2006). directed by christophe gans.

horror movie marathon indeed. and this slightly dated film is better than sinister (2012) that i watched yesterday. yeah it was based on a video game, but it has a better story line and make attempts to explains the strange occurrence in silent hill. violence is liberally applied, but it has an interesting visual style and i like the costumes [of the monsters] in the movie. 

my brother said this is one of the better horror movie that he had watched and looking forward to the sequel which will be showing in KL next week. i am not a big fan of violence, i will probably stay off it. 

margaret (2011). directed by kenneth lonergan.

i am a fan of lonergan's works. remember you can count on me (2000) which is heartwarming without being cliche and idiotic which can be challenging to find. the fact that this movie is mostly carried alone by anna paquin as the fast talking teenager who thinks what she feels matters to the world only to find out that she is well on her way to learn why cynicism is the only armour to survive this world when one is older.  not that adults do not care, or young people is more in touch with their feelings, or that sensitivity is lost by age, but this world has this kind of crushing feeling to it if you don't pick your battles carefully. it's survival instinct. 

sinister (2012). directed scott derrickson.

the background to the ghost story is weak. perhaps no explanation is needed in that aspect, but when i think of horror movies that i admire, there must be something that needs to be understood behind all that skin crawling experience. the substitute to a good plot is violence  and in this movie, there is plenty of it that had me screaming due to the sheer amount of massacre committed by children no less. 

i understand sometimes things are senseless, but this one is just sense-less. 

taken 2 (2012). directed by olivier megaton.

megaton it is not. taken i am not. a very poor version that tries to imitate the first movie. how sad is that?

life as we know it (2010). directed by greg berlanti.

what a waste of money. so many rehashed version of this story proves that it is extremely banal no matter the kind of angle you try to twist it because you just can't. i watched this last sunday i ended up running a list of movies that has this plot..really..this monstrosity has got to stop. 

the kids are all right (2010). directed by lisa cholodenko.

i quite like cholodenko's work, in particular high art (1998) and laurel canyon (2002). this movie has laurel's potential, the whole superficially-everything-is-ok-but-not-really BUT it is not actually as good as laurel. i find the story..hmm..how should one put it. i find the story flat. yeah you have a lesbian couple who has half sibling children looking for the donor dad. the one of the partners slept with the donor dad out of the usual relationship boredom. it could have been interesting, domestic unrest, like in we don't live here anymore (2004), but this movie brings nothing new to the table. 

painted skin: the resurrection (2012). directed by wuershan.

there's some interesting visual style, but the story is erratic. the story telling is not interesting enough and i don't find the actors compelling. feels like watching those crap malay movies i just can't get my head around. 

man on the moon (1999). directed by milos forman.

we were tossing between lars von trier's antichrist (2009) and this film. my brother promised to pass von trier's film as he said that movie is no-no for family viewing.  

man on the moon is not an easy viewing either. not that i expected anything vanilla, but still, if not for milos forman (amadeus (1984), one flew over the cuckoo's nest (1975)), it could be more incoherent. 

it is because of the subject matter - the chameleon-like-but-not-really-funny andy kaufman? his kind of funnies is not really funny in the strictest sense - i am no comedian because he seems to have a cult following - the kind of hoaxes he did challenges what funny means - and what matters is that he finds them funny, it doesn't have to be everyone's cup of tea. 

or, it is due to the story telling the story adopts? it is not as linear as the life and death of peter sellers (2004) as we were shown various facets of seller's life - as the gifted immature selfish comedian to the immature selfish son and husband that he was. there's not a lot of air time for andy kaufman as a person outside his comedian role, perhaps not enough his known about his personal life, or that he wears his role outside his professional life. 

my brother, my gf and i were weirded out of our wits. may be that's the whole point - the guy is baffling and there is no keeping up with him. 

the help (2011). directed by tate taylor.

think of mean girls (2004) 60's style. these women are bitchy. a bunch of racists to their maids, and intolerant of others who are a tad different from them. the queen bee's motto, played with malicious perfection by bryce dallas howard, separate but equal. that refers to the outdoor toilets reserved for the coloured maids, which pretty much applies to everything else from cutlery to not being visible at all. 

it's a good story but it's a vanilla way to describe the horrendous treatment received by african americans at that time. and it was the 60's, mind you, which is really not that far off from recent times. 

the ninth gate (1999). directed by roman polanski.

it's a pleasure to see the master at work. by that i mean polanski. good directors don't need stupid shock factors and over the top special effects - they can deliver a good film simply with a good script and good acting. 

this two things isn't to be underestimated. many just can't work with just these two. 

the subject matter could easily become silly and corny at the hands of a lesser talented director, but polanski delivered something supernaturally creepy. there is no apparition of the ju-on: the grudge (2002) kind, but i was genuinely scared. thank goodness i watched it with other people otherwise i would have screamed. the premise is simple, what it takes to be a devoted servant of God is essentially the same qualities required if you were to serve, say, the Prince of Darkness himself. 

are you up for the ride, now?