Ladies and gentleman, ghouls and gravediggers, undead and dead alike, welcome to another wrap-up of Shriekfest! 2010 was a pretty good year, all things considered. First off, I’d like to say that I really like Shriekfest. I have a great time there and I usually make time to see just about everything.
You know, the only thing that is really unstoppable is the fact that Hollywood will make a glut of mediocre action films that don’t really offend OR excite. This is really just another one of those, so we’ll just throw it on the pile.
Somebody asked me how a movie about a guy that saws his arm off isn’t a plot only worth five minutes. My question would be, how could you think it only needs five minutes?! A man CUTS HIS OWN ARM OFF. How could you not want to know more about this?
I love animated films. I think it’s a great medium and has so much potential in telling a story. Some of the best stuff is from Studio Ghibli. Hayao Miyazaki has made some brilliant, beautiful films. It follows that someone else would want to make a similar mark.
Ok, I admit it; I’ve not read a lot of Shakespeare. But I’ve enjoyed all of what I’ve seen adapted to film. Ha – spoken like a true MTV generation kid (ok, a little pre-MTV generation). And I have also enjoyed much of Julie Taymor’s directing. I loved the passion and creativity of her film Titus based on yet another Shakespearean work.
I have never been much of a fan of ballet, or opera, for that matter. My step-grandfather, a Scottish-born man, drinker of fine scotch, was a fan of both. He tried to instill some interest of these (no, not the scotch) in me as a teen, to no avail. However, if I had seen Black Swan then, I’m sure I would have changed my tune.
Nicolas Cage and Ron Perlman star as a couple of incredibly uninteresting 14th Century knights that must help transport a suspected witch to some monastery where they will supposedly thwart what they think is her ongoing scheme called The Black Plague.
I saw a blurb about Kevin Spacey in this movie not too long ago that said something to the effect of “The kind of performance that made you love him in American Beauty.” That’s all fine and good, but that kind of fawning just seems like desperation to me. Like people should see this movie because it’s Kevin Spacey acting like he did in a movie you love.
Oh, Paul Giamatti, I wonder how many films you could save just by being in them. I suspect many. I bet even M. Night Blahbity Blah had that in mind when he put you in Lady in the Water, despite that even your day-saving powers couldn’t help there.
This film certainly gives “be afraid of the dark” considerably new meaning, and there are certainly some very creepy moments to be found here. The tone and the cinematography are great, and the music just helps to set the shadowy, tension-y tone. “Tension-y”? Yeah, I just made that up. No, really. You won’t find that in any dictionary.