Prometheus review up: http://wp.me/psMQz-fX

What was it about Cabin that you liked so much? It's personally on the bottom of my list of "good movies I've seen this year." Not saying you all should hate it too, i'm just curious as to what its appeal actually was for other people who have seen it. Everyone raved about it, but it just made me feel physically ill. It seemed to be just like every other horror movie to me. The concept was highly unoriginal (as far as the order of deaths, the nudity in the first girl's death, being "setup" by outside forces, zombies, sacrifices, a labyrinth of monsters, etc.) the gore was excessive, they used Switchfoot of all bands during the introduction of mr. weed, and I felt the ending wasn't really an end, just an escape from the movie in general. I don't know, maybe i'm just weird. Maybe it's just my aversion to movies whose plot line is "Kill all the things." :P Also, have you seen Men In Black 3? If not, do so. I'm sure it'll end up on your list of good things. Great plot, amazing humor moments ("Mommy, the president stole my milk!"-little girl in reference to Smith) and touching ending. And I do have to ask: though you hated Snow White's acting and concept, how did you like the technical work such as effects and costumes? That's what I was truly interested in, but I fear that I'll just find out that the best affects were all in the trailers.

[b]THeMadHatter wrote:[/b] [quote]What was it about Cabin that you liked so much? It's personally on the bottom of my list of "good movies I've seen this year." Not saying you all should hate it too, i'm just curious as to what its appeal actually was for other people who have seen it. Everyone raved about it, but it just made me feel physically ill. It seemed to be just like every other horror movie to me. The concept was highly unoriginal (as far as the order of deaths, the nudity in the first girl's death, being "setup" by outside forces, zombies, sacrifices, a labyrinth of monsters, etc.) the gore was excessive, they used Switchfoot of all bands during the introduction of mr. weed, and I felt the ending wasn't really an end, just an escape from the movie in general. I don't know, maybe i'm just weird. Maybe it's just my aversion to movies whose plot line is "Kill all the things." :P [/quote] [b]WARNING: SPOILERS[/b]. I'm about to talk about the plot of [b]The Cabin in the Woods[/b] so if you haven't seen it [b]DON'T READ THIS[/b]. I mean this in the most amicable way possible, but I just have to ask: did you watch the movie? I'm genuinely curious as to how you could come out of it thinking that the plot line is "kill all the things" or that it's unoriginal or like every other horror move. I mean, certainly, the setup is a generic horror movie setup (five kids go to a remote cabin ignoring obvious warnings to their doom), but that's the whole point. This movie is a comedy, a satire and deconstruction of the horror genre. It's like Scream for the Evil Dead crowd. Every horror movie cliche is subverted or turned on its head. They make it very obvious that they are playing with the conventions of more cliche horror movies and doing it for laughs, as well as to make some points about the state of the genre and the people who watch it. I mean, half the movie is the guys in the control room manipulating the events so that normally smart people choose to split up when they should stay together or have sex in the woods when they should stay inside. It's making fun of the way those things happen in many horror movies not because they are natural but because it allows the plot to move forward, or to have a kill scene, or show nudity. Regarding the order of the deaths, there are entire conversations about exactly why the deaths occur the way they do. They explain that it doesn't matter if the "virgin" survives or not, as long as she's last and as long as she suffers. The first girl's death and her nudity is one of the most important scenes. We watch the men behind it engineering it so that they will behave amorously and then be caught, and then they watch with barely-concealed pleasure as their scene plays out. Even the ones who initially act disgusted sort of give in and peek. It's an illustration of the voyeuristic nature of film, and as audiences we are implicated in the act of watching. Do we not feel a similar anticipation and curiosity, whether we give voice to it or not? The gore is excessive because it's what we want to see, and, in the words of Quentin Tarantino, because it's so much fun. Think of it this way. The men in the control room are directors. The events in the cabin are their movie. The elder gods, the ancient ones for whom the sacrifice must be made, are the audience. WE are the ones who demand that teenagers be sacrificed by zombies or redneck zombies or sexy witches or angry molesting trees over and over again to our satisfaction. WE have made the formula lucrative and so they duplicate it to please us. In the end of the movie, the gods (us) didn't get what they expected and so they revolted, an examination of what happens when we allow creative, risk-taking movies to fail and keep throwing our support behind recycled Hollywood garbage. Also I'd like to hear your reasoning for why the labyrinth of monsters was unoriginal because i have never in my life seen anything like the climax of this movie. It blew my mind. Plus when the girl mistakenly kills Richard Jenkins character amidst all the carnage, she doesn't realize that she has actually killed the real monster, the one who subjected she and her friends to all of this. The movie works on a lot of levels. It's very cleverly written. Switchfoot is my favorite band and why would I care that their music is in this awesome movie? Just makes it that much more awesome. That's the short version - I could talk for a long time about this movie because it has so much going on and so much to say. How many average, unoriginal horror movies could provoke this much discussion? I may have come across a little defensive so sorry about that, I just really wanted to get across why I think that this is a great movie, and that doesn't mean you have to like it! You may not have enjoyed the film because it IS made out of horror movie parts, they've just been arranged into something very different. But I had to defend it against accusations of banality. [quote]Also, have you seen Men In Black 3? If not, do so. I'm sure it'll end up on your list of good things. Great plot, amazing humor moments ("Mommy, the president stole my milk!"-little girl in reference to Smith) and touching ending. [/quote] I have not. Does it matter if I never saw the second one? [quote]And I do have to ask: though you hated Snow White's acting and concept, how did you like the technical work such as effects and costumes? That's what I was truly interested in, but I fear that I'll just find out that the best affects were all in the trailers.[/quote] Oh the effects and costumes were fine. No real complaints there. Ravenna's creatures made out of those black scales or whatever are pretty cool, and the effect by which they make regular size actors into dwarfs is seamless. I actually don't even hate the acting. Hemsworth is good in spite of his material and Theron is fun in a showy role. But the writing and execution are mostly just horrendous. The characters are mishandled and the story bored me. It's just sound and pictures with nothing behind it.

(Cabin) lol well, I'm glad you at least enjoyed the movie. I guess I just didn't catch the satire among the gore. I was brought into it without any back story of what I was going to see. At the beginning, I assumed it was going to be a comedic-horror (due to the sudden title in the first scene that, I will admit, made me crack up.), but as the movie went on, I guess I just found myself more disgusted. As for the labyrinth of monsters, the immediate one that comes to mind is 13 Ghosts, which is fully about creatures contained in glass containers that shift around to be released as symbols are landed upon. Though I hold to my opinion that all themes have been taken from other movies, I guess there is an appreciation to be said about it from the idea that its a look in on the creation process of these types. Thanks for pointing it out, I didn't research before the fact, and thought they were being serious. That doesn't mean I like it. :P I am more a fan of psychological thrillers, not slashers. (MIBIII) Also, no. You don't have to see #2. I never did, and found it just as amazing. From what I hear, all three are fully independent of each other, so you don't have to see them in order, or have to know much about the back story of any of them to appreciate the movies. (Snow) I might still have to see it as a loyal techie. :P Even if the story sucks, I'll be amused. (Other) Do you plan on seeing Brave at all this summer?

[b]THeMadHatter wrote:[/b] [quote](Cabin) lol well, I'm glad you at least enjoyed the movie. I guess I just didn't catch the satire among the gore. I was brought into it without any back story of what I was going to see.[/quote] Me too. I maintain the best way to see the movie is going in blind. Not even a trailer. [quote]At the beginning, I assumed it was going to be a comedic-horror (due to the sudden title in the first scene that, I will admit, made me crack up.), but as the movie went on, I guess I just found myself more disgusted. [/quote] It [i]is[/i] a comedic-horror, though I would call it more of a comedy about horror. Glad you enjoyed the title card, that was the first laugh-out-loud moment for me as well. A shame that you didn't find the creepy old gas station attendant on speakerphone, or the merman, or the white board, or everything Fran Kranz said funny as well. I laughed at all those things. [quote]As for the labyrinth of monsters, the immediate one that comes to mind is 13 Ghosts, which is fully about creatures contained in glass containers that shift around to be released as symbols are landed upon. Though I hold to my opinion that all themes have been taken from other movies, I guess there is an appreciation to be said about it from the idea that its a look in on the creation process of these types. Thanks for pointing it out, I didn't research before the fact, and thought they were being serious. [/quote] Interesting, I haven't seen 13 ghosts, although I would say nothing here is an accident. This movie has been meticulously planned so that its details have details. Again, yes the [i]elements[/i] of the film have been pulled from other films (because it's directly referencing and dealing with both the content and presentation of those films), but those elements have been combined into something I've never seen before. [quote]That doesn't mean I like it. :P I am more a fan of psychological thrillers, not slashers.[/quote] So am I. Give me Memento, Jacob's Ladder, The Sixth Sense, etc. any day over Halloween or Friday the 13th. [quote] Do you plan on seeing Brave at all this summer?[/quote] I'd like to. I'm a big Pixar fan (who isn't) and I've seen all their movies except Cars 2.

Saw [b][url=http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1614989/]Headhunters[/url][/b] last night at my local arthouse theater. I love that place. I always get to see movies that don't show in your standard multiplexes. In this case, a Norwegian thriller about an art thief who gets way in over his head. Literally. After he sets his mark on a wealthy executive whose specialty is tracking people with GPS technology, he finds he's been set up and everything goes to crap. Again, literally. The first 40 minutes are really top notch, and rise to Hitchcock-like levels of suspense, as we immediately root for the protagonist despite his being no more morally sound than anyone else. The movie has a pitch black sense of humor, and the events in the second half are really so over-the-top that they'd play perfectly well as a comedy, although you're more likely to laugh at the sheer absurdity of it all sort of like in Fargo (though comparisons to that great film are far too kind). In some ways the plot is kind of undercooked and it all comes out feeling sort of insubstantial, but it's a fun movie by turns surprisingly violent and gross. And all this in the context of a man compensating for his own insecurities. 7/10. This is technically a 2011 film but I saw it last night and it didn't see a USA theatrical release until this year, so I'm counting it. 1. The Cabin in the Woods 2. Prometheus 3. 21 Jump Street 4. The Avengers [b]5. Headhunters[/b] 6. The Hunger Games 7. Chernobyl Diaries 8. Safe House 9. Gone 10. Snow White and the Huntsman

1. The Cabin in the Woods 2. Prometheus 3. 21 Jump Street 4. The Avengers 5. Headhunters 6. The Hunger Games [b]7. Men In Black 3[/b] 8. Chernobyl Diaries 9. Safe House 10. Gone 11. Snow White and the Huntsman I saw Men in Black III. Hadn't seen II. Didn't seem to make too much difference. It's funny at times, sad at times, always flashy, but there's something sort of lifeless about it. Josh Brolin is the perfect young Tommy Lee Jones. Will Smith is Will Smith. It's a quick and breezy entertainment but nothing too memorable, save Jemaine Clement as one of the more disgusting baddies we've seen recently. 6/10.

Why do I keep posting here? Anyway... I saw [b]The Dark Knight Rises[/b] which was good, and [b]Moonrise Kingdom[/b] which was great! I'm putting at number 2 tentatively cause I'd like to see CitW again before I make my decision (my year end list is a long way off anyway) but it may rise to number 1. Really enjoyable flick, very funny, lots of heart - here's my long-winded full review: http://wp.me/psMQz-g9 1. The Cabin in the Woods [b]2. Moonrise Kingdom[/b] 3. Prometheus [b]4. The Dark Knight Rises[/b] 5. 21 Jump Street 6. The Avengers 7. Headhunters 8. The Hunger Games 9. Men In Black 3 10. Chernobyl Diaries 11. Safe House 12. Gone 13. Snow White and the Huntsman TDKR was the ending Batman deserved, just not the one it needs right now. <_< All I'm saying for now.

You post because there's still people around reading. :P

1. The Cabin in the Woods 2. Moonrise Kingdom 3. Prometheus 4. The Dark Knight Rises 5. 21 Jump Street 6. The Avengers 7. Headhunters 8. The Hunger Games 9. Men In Black 3 [b]10. Safety Not Guaranteed[/b] 11. Chernobyl Diaries 12. Safe House [b]13. Beasts of the Southern Wild[/b] 14. Gone 15. Snow White and the Huntsman New list, added Safety Not Guaranteed and Beasts of the Southern Wild. Beasts is a critical darling right now but I wasn't impressed with it. The narrative was a bit too muddled for my tastes, though there were moments of power and the young actress is something to see. Safety Not Guaranteed was a pretty standard light quirky indie dramedy but Aubrey Plaza makes it very pleasant to watch. Also I put up a Dark Knight Rises review for you all: http://theraptorpack.wordpress.com/2012/08/11/the-dark-knight-rises-2012/