using your same completely fallacious logic, couldn't I rag on you for criticizing Mori, since he is doing HIS job, and you are NOT a reviewer or contributor to this site?

Mori's job is to critique not just film, but the entire system of film. the machinations and fights, and deals, and all of that...it's not separate from the movies themselves. Mori is taking a movie that he enjoyed (and you know, his opinion may not trump yours, but the fact that millions of people read it on this site, while you're playing Madden says something) and he's championing it.

and instead of taking that for what it is, you've gotta be the cool kid and come take a dump on it.

well guess what? the coolest kid from my high school is now a valet. when you grow up you'll get it.

I'm very interested in seeing this movie and I had no idea it was getting a small release. I'm bummed.

I have to consult my Comic Con panel Excel spreadsheet schedule, I think this might conflict with the Battlestar Panel. Tough decisions.

any hot chicks at your panel, Drew?

You are totally awesome. You are cordially invited to my house for dinner, and then you and I can be best friends. Please bring with you a Mr. T lunchbox, some Mr. T cereal, and the Mr. T mohawk and chains starter kit.

Your Pal,

Bobo_Vision

"this is why you write about movies and not make them"

actually, he has and does write movies. how about you?

"throw away a lot more money on a wide release"

upping it form 50 theaters is not necessarily a wide release, for god sake. no one is trying to put this on 4000 screens. he's just saying that a little more would help to give it a bump.

"little broad appeal with no known actors"

sigh...ron perlman is one of the hottest actors out there right now. have you heard of a gigantic film called Hellboy? hard to see through the make-up (and your noodle brain) but he's the lead. jim cavaziel has also headlined movies, and was the LEAD in one of the most controversial and highest grossing films of all time, passion of the christ.

"Fanboys looks like ass too. So there..."

christ you are dumb, MORI ALREADY SAID HE DIDN'T EVEN THINK IT WAS FUNNY. he used it to make a point.

seriously. a valet. someday you'll understand.

Even if you get the likes of Moviehole, Comingsoon, IESB etc on board to start actively promoting this film, even if you are able to generate a tremendous buzz online about the film there are four words to remember: Snakes On A Plane.

That was a movie that had increbible buzz online and had the studio backing it...and look what happened...nothing. The came and went without as much as a whimper.

Outlander doesn't even have the studio backing it. The only semblence of any promotion has come from the two trailers. You may say that Outlander and SOAP are two completely different films, but at their core, they are both designed to be fun popcorn films, the types of film that you just have a great time watching.

Believe me, I'd love to see Outlander on the big screen, but Weinstein just isn't going to take the chance based on the words of movie geeks on the internet.

That's not to say that generating buzz about the film is a bad idea, quite the opposite. It has to be focused, not on the internet at large, but in real world locations, specifically the 50 places the movie will be shown. The only hope the film has for a wide release is if it consistently sells out those 50 screens.

Though I suppose the general point of these sort of things being able to influence studios holds true, though it's rare. What has been shown though is that talkbackers can't influence the potential audience, as shown by Snakes on a Plane.

Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis rock that shit.

so the point of movies is to make money and nothing else? the point of investing in bearer bonds is to make money. commercial movies have economic concerns like any other large piece of art, but it is not purely so.

and what are you talking about only going to the movies if your girlfriend wants to go. how many movies are there about eating pancakes and bacon? that makes no sense.

i also felt that the last line in the script was really pushing the lines of ego-maniacal self indulgence, but it was a fun read.

you are only half stupid, I apologize.

I had valet friends in college and it just seemed like they were stuck with it cos they didn't want to work hard enough to be a barback or busboy. and the tips for those jobs were double, and with ZERO risk of getting your shit kicked in for scratching a mercedes...

how goes things man? I got my website up and I'm a sneeze away from a book deal for some pieces of my writing, but I hesitate to put it on here for fear of intense ridicule by people who hate...you know...cats?

THIS is why I love this site. It's from and for passionate, positive film lovers. I'm adding OUTLANDER to my must see list. Sold. IF it ever gets an Australian cinema release...

Hey, here's a rather obvious thought - why not do this monthly? Choose one movie that is drowning or possibly gonna drown in cinemas and throw some vocal support behind it. Slap a face or 2. Keep it in the main article area on the left for the whole month. If there aren't any movies drowning in the cinema that month, pick one from a back catalogue of movies that have already dropped through the cracks. I'm positive you will ready, willing and able long-list of volunteers of writers here ready to be heard...

Go, Aintitcool News! Go!

Just the one 'b' in 'Womb' champ. Thanks for your time.

No Stallone/Schwarzenegger/Willis crossover plus directed by Quentin fuckin'overrated Tarantino. Meh.

Also to reiterate - I wasn't talking about a general DVD column or masses of positive reviews/articles - I think the realisation of a monthly dedicated feature article spotlighting one particular struggling "good" film would be awesome. Every once in a while Harry will post a help 'Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang' and you've got Mori's effort here so what harm can come from making the love consistent? This sort of shit is happening so often with studios or the audiences, I believe it could actually do well. After all, if there is one thing that the most genuine film lovers appreciate, it's a good underdog story!

Think of it as the aintitcool.com equivalent of the period but, you know, you don't want to skip it .... but it will always probably be late.

And yet, you fucking accountants in training crawl out of the woodwork every time with your pathetic psuedo FT bleating about money (as if any of you cunts have shares in the studio), and berating the author for pointing out the fucking obvious. Haven't you got paperclips to count?

"Besides shame on you terds for thinking like studios instead of devotees of cinema. And to say "I'd dump it because I can think like a studio and they always make stupid decisions" means... you can make stupid decisions"

Read and remember, arseholes.

I agree with with the first paragraph you wrote in that post. This looks like fun schlock, fun at the theaters and beer with friends afterwards, fun as a rental with pizza and beer type of movie(Man I'm dying for a pizza and beer right right now).

Those posters really are as you stated, "humorless wankers" indeed. Most of them must have been given a transfusion of M-O-M blood.

What exactly is the problem you have with a somewhat original movie that's not a sequel, a remake, retread, "reimaging" of a 70's or 80's TV show. BTW Hollywood where's the reimaging of BJ and The Bear?

Are you afraid that you might have 90 minutes of fun and enjoyment? It's alright buddy to have fun at the movies, after all, its entertainment nothing more.

Now GONE - THAT was a bad thing. Truck fuck girl!

I still don't know why the buzz for non-Star Wars Star Wars movies is all about this FANBOYS and yet I hear fuck all about 5-25-77. From what I hear, 5-25-77 > FANBOYS to the Nth degree. Mori - your next assignment is to get behind 5-25-77, get some steam up for Patrick Read Johnson and help get that fucking classic out there on the big screen! I mean... after OUTLANDER, of course.

Weinsteins - there's a fucking HUGE market in the UK for pizza-and-beer late-night-Saturday movies. PLEEEEEEASE do not dump this on DVD. You have no idea how many times I'd go catch this on a big screen - and bring all my mates along in a longboat, just for shits and giggles >:D

Y'know, respecting your right to like what you like and all that, but... how do you NOT enjoy a movie with vikings and aliens? That trailer alone pisses on the entire ouevre of Platinum Dunes movies. But then, the gigantic bog otter I set free this morning tops Platinum Dunes' entire slate, so...

Tell me you're being ironic, 'cos that shit does NOT compute.

Basically, I was saying that the article itself publicising the film is a good thing. I personally don't especially give a monkey's if the Weinsteins release it on 1 screen or 10,000. But to come on here and slate the article while wittering about money is fucking tiresome. It isn't about the fucking money- many of my favourite films were commercial disasters, and many of my most hated were tremendously successful.

And furthermore Whiny- I wasn't thinking about Vikings per se, but about shlock. There has been a huge amount of TB's recently with groups of people reminiscing about it- 20 years time there will be the same.

As I said above, we are (as much as we may hate to admit it) a niche market, and an article from our (arguably) leading site putting the spotlight on these kind of films once a month would be great.

Good on you for writing this, and thanks for the entertaining approach. Clearly this is both a shout to anyone who will listen, but it's also a review telling the geek brethren here to perk up their ears and pay attention.

You are utlizing this site in one of the ways that is most satisfying and interesting, as a way to help those movies that deserve a chance.

Me, Im elated to hear it deserves a chance. I've gone to see second tier potential trash I'd never heard of on your reccomendation alone-two instances come to mind. One was Pitch Black. Went with my dad and we both loved it. Later, in 2002, when snow closed the college I attended, I noticed a mystery movie with no reviews or previews had showed up at the local theater. Equilibrium. I looked it up, and sure enough you had a review. Went to it with a few other guys who thought I was crazy and dreamed it was even showing. They all thanked me after the fact.

Point is, what you are doing is good, and encouraging. I wanted to see someone here at AICN step-up and try to help get this thing seen(I advocated that very thing in the last Outlander talkback) and it's good to hear it's worthy of being seen.

Open letter to AICN guys:

Let's rally around Mori on this one. Let's keep the talback going, and lets add our voices as people who want to see this film, whatever it turns out to be, and preferrably in the theater.

I know this comes off as a personal attack, but seriously, nothing you have posted here is consistent with anything preceding it or even in line with the point of the article. It's the ravings of a mad man. If you have a valid reason for interceding here, fine, but all you have done is detract and abuse without apparent motive.

But thank you again for killing time until z town, populations z.

Even if that portuguese pillock does keep pitching up and ruining them

(Well, the saving thing might be the fact that they don't know it was a retelling of Beowulf, either)

I remember walking into Dark City having not seen a trailer, article or review for it. I liked the poster outside the theater, my friend and I were intrigued and we walked in not knowing what the movie was about or who was in it. Two hours later I walked out of the theater and asked my friend, "What just happened?" I couldn't register the perfection I had just witnessed up on the screen without any advance knowledge of it. Outlander might not be Dark City, but I get the feeling it deserves a fighting chance to be more than a cult favorite.

Last film I managed it with was Dog Soldiers. Which rocks. And I don't care what you think WNB. It rocks.

Jarv, it has been a while dude.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/ tvshowbiz/article-1037174/Batm an-star-Christian-Bale-arreste d-assault-claims-brought-mothe r-sister.html

http://www.thesun.co.u k/sol/homepage/news/article145 3926.ece

Holy Punch Up, Batman!

john connor :- sisterminator.

It's in a far nicer bit of London than the one we normally go to- so less chavs

It's clean.

None of these things you can say about Camden Odeon, where the tenner saved actually results in 2 uncomfortable people in a bad mood due to mobile phone plague, dirty bastards, and the fact that we've been sitting in a bin.

It generally doesn't show what we want to see though, this is the exception.

Yes, I saw them before, but not back-to-back, Someone should have warned me of Tony Jaa overdose!

Seriously, I wish my local theaters had amenities like this and didn't require a police presence at night to break up the ruffians.

At least we've got more than one telly so she can bugger off into the other room. She does bring beer though. Albeit a touch ungraciously.

I still wouldn't see Speed Racer, even if the cinema provided me with a blow job and enough cocaine to floor Oasis.

Mrs Jarv is not a fan of Martial Arts movies. She's starting to like schlock and loves horror, but draws the line at "grown men pretending to beat each other up". Mystifyingly, she gets a bit shitty when I pointed out that Atonement, was "Grown men pretending to be from the early part of the 20th century".

What little interest I had has been killed when I found out that Billy "Scottish Steve Martin (used to be funny in the 80's- now appears in dreck)" Connoly was in it.

My own private movie theater is upstairs in the bonus room but that room is the only room upstairs and it just so happens it's above the garage which is fortunate as the room isn't soundproofed.

That was what, 9 years ago? I think they waited too long and the fan support just isn't there anymore. This isn't Indy where 19 years later people are still chomping at the bit for a new movie. It's friggin X-Files. I don't know why they bothered.

Doomsday won't be available til the end of the month.

Tony Jaa...Donnie Yen...that's what I'm talking about.

Hence liking Flying Daggers, Hero, and Crouching Tiger, but hating more visceral stuff.

It's very annoying, frankly.

Which is cool.

Sunshine will follow, but it matters not right now since my summer class is playing ping pong with my balls right now.

Honestly, I can't stress this enough. Hideous, hideous, turgid poorly acted, miscast boring piece of crap.

Think I need to see the pony-tail in action.

And they bumped The Car down the list, but replaced that with Exorcist 3 so I'm not too upset on that one.

Governmental Accounting never sounded so...er....good?

And Exorcist 3 is brilliant just because it has George C. Scott barking irritatedly at Satan. Geez, I love that movie.

You won't get burned with Invisible Target though (has ANYONE seen it?) as people are blown away while the opening credits are still rolling.

Flash Point is a mixed bag. Some very good fight scenes and an actual story but I found the story muddled as hell so I was disappointed and have trouble recommending it beyond the third act.

I've heard good things about The Lives of Others.

If this was the first time I'd be OK, but they swapped in Ordinary People. I sat through it and fucking hated every boring second.

I did enjoy Amadeus last weekend, though.

I totally enjoyed it, though.

HAving said this, Rhona Mitra is a complete fucking talent vacuum, and hopelessly miscast. She is very easy on the eye though.

This shit is maddening, even if you take into account all the flaws in Scream, it was still an important piece of cinema. Does no-one remember the state of Horror before it?

In fact, looking at the current state of horror, we could almost do with another one.

I don't blame Scream for it's sequels, or knock offs (IKWYDLS, Cherry Falls, Valentine, and so forth)

An online rental service that removes your choices for their own doesn't seen right to me. The first time they did that, I'd drop a steaming dump in their envelope and send the movie back.

It isn't better than Tsotsi though, but that was foriegn language.

The late eighties/ early nineties were not good times for the horror movie. All that came out were tired, shitey, derivative slasher movies (really, halloween has a lot to answer for). The postmodern structure of scream, although it became tiresome very fucking quickly, gave them an opportunity to basically deconstruct and debunk all the conventions. And they took it brilliantly. At the time, Scream felt fresh, funny, innovative.

Now it feels trite and hackneyed due to the endless imitations. But it really was a watershed movie.

It's almost as bad as when Million Dollar Baby won. No way in fuck was that the best film. And don't get me started on Forrest Gump/ Titanic etc. You can do this all day.

I Know What You Did had one thing and one thing only worth nothing and we all know they should have been freed from those tight t-shirts.

And here is the part where I say something that questions all I have ever said before.

My fave of the teen slasher/horror films from the late 90s was...Urban Legend. I kid you not. I loved that POS. So earnest, and so wacky, and yet the technical credits are good, the college kids all look like they are 30, and it has quite a collection of horror icons. Gotta love any movie where Robert Englund, Jeffrey Combs, and Brad Dourif are innocent and *SPOILER* Rebecca Gayheart is the killer.

God Bless Urban Legend.

Now it comes across as smug and overly pleased with itself, but at the time it was totally necessary.

Return of the King

ok...Im done.

And Capote was fantastic. Between Hoffman and the guy who played the killer he was interviewing I was in awe.

Also, there was a ton of schlock that predated Scream that was very similar. There is even an 80s attempt to do the same thing as Scream. It was called Student Bodies, and if you see it, then you have an appreciation for Scream and how well it handled the whole thing. Me, I actually preferred Scream 2. Thought the characters were better.

It was worth just to see Malcovich say "Mr. Son of Beech...I stick it to you."

Basically, it's folly to say in any way shape or form that Last Summer is better.

Scream had a young Rose McGowan crushed in a garage door- which is still one of my favourite deaths.

The Academy sucks. Frankly.

Dear God I am very much joking of course.

Actually it hurt to write that even in jest.

Speaking of which, any fans of the original Trancers here? The movie before all the crummy sequels? It had Tim Thomerson and a young Helen Hunt. A fun sci-fi movie that sadly never truly got the props it deserved.

But there were better films from that year not nominated

If ever there's a smug over-educated film, it's that one.

I kind of think Cronenburg was a bit robbed with Eastern Promises this year. And Fincher was absolutely snubbed with Zodiac.

One I rather liked a bit from recent years was The Final Cut. Anyone agree?

Thought I would throw that out there.

This is fucking ironic- shlock TB regulars discussing high-brow entertainment.

Of that list, as shit as it is, Million Dollar Baby probably is the best.

Also, did it ever dawn on anyone that the way to have done Grindhouse was not to make two imitators but take lowbudget fare like this, and pair it together with something else. I guess in the day of the absentee drive-in, this wouldnt work.

NO, FUCK IT, "MY NAME IS JARV AND I LIKED THE FACULTY"

That scene with the couple enjoying the outdoors and the killer shows up...wow.

I think if a movie is good enough, then who cares what genre it is from?

But how on earth are the likes of me (and I bet it never even gets a UK release), ever going to see it if they don't tell us about it, or put it on a fucking screen.

It's daft. And surely this must impact on DVD sales?

Has anyone seen Death of a Salesman with Dustin Hoffman and John Malkovich. It's ok- but watch Rain Man straight afterwards and tell me that Hoffman isn't repeating his exact Willy Loman Performance. It's a joke.

I then went to theater and thought 'Meh.'

It pissed me off because that should have been at least a very good flick.

Folks who hated Michael Clayton need to read the script. It's one of the best I've ever read only a retard thinks that Juno junk was more well written.

What the hell ever happened to Demme?

Oh yes.

Juno is dreadful. Sorry, but it is.

Mine starts friday with Batman marathon, then Dark Knight Saturday and then into a Mcclure Marathon as I have next week off.

Bitchslap Memories if he shows up.

And Visiting Hours is worthy, and creepy. It's a hospital based thriller mostly. Ironside was super creepy. And the Shat was shatting his heart out in that one. As always. It's a good slasher. A bit more unsettling than most, probably due to the creepy score and lighting.

And what kind of voting wanker thinks Juno was better than Eastern Promises, 3:10 To Yuma, Gone Baby Gone, Into the Wild and The Great Debaters? Christ, Charlie Wilson's War and American Gangster were better than that tripe. Such a good year for movies for a change and sewage gets the nod.

2. No End in Sight

3. Zodiac

4. Once

5. Michael Clayton

6. The Mist

7. Gone Baby Gone

8. Sicko

9. Eastern Promises

10. No Country for Old Men

Wow, to see the tranformation from smiling and feeding his son in the tent at the begining and talking to him at his desk in the end...

Very much love this movie.

And Once should have earned the spot Juno had.

I stopped reading TDK thread because of USC. He's an ass.

Agree with you on SCREAM - awesome at the time, more a video curio now. Though Jamie Kennedy is talking up a SCREAM 4 that the studio is supposedly trying to keep on the down low - and they won't make it without Wes Craven!

Hopefully the ELM ST 1 and SCREAM Craven, NOT the CURSED and SHOCKER Craven. Okay, I DID like SHOCKER.

Oh, and to paraphrase the Commitments: Say it once, say it loud. I LIKED THE FACULTY AND I'M PROUD!!!

Proud, I telss ya. "Showdown..."

"I drink your milkshake! I drink it up! DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINAGE! DRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINA AAAAAGE!!!"

Should I just STFU and watch it? Is it really THAT great?!?

I loved Zodiac and Eastern Promises...but I didn't like Sicko at all.

And Jesse James...I don't know what it is, but the performances were of course top-notch...but it was just an okay movie for me. Frankly, it was too boring for me in spots that seemed to take the wind out of my sails a bit.

And I think the continuation of the movie after Jesse was killed...I know, I know, it was about Robert Ford...but I think that took away from my experience. I was just left with a "it was okay" taste in my mouth.

Ah, those were the days. Nowadays, everyone's so goshdarned polite.

I know, I know, I'm missing out...

I'm sure myspace has one too. If you want to do something and get the word out, here's your chance. I'll do my part to support it. Grassroots has worked in the past.

Get enough people to become "aware" of this movie. If they like the idea then great, if not, also great. The point is, the more people you can share this with, the more likely 50 theaters will get expanded to 100 or more and at least give the movie a chance.

That's all Drew is asking in that letter. I support him because I liked the concept and look of the movie. If you don't like the movie, but have a friend that might, let them know about the project.

Again, I could be wrong, but Mori's letter is a just a plea to give the movie a chance. It's buried without marketing, and it looks like word of mouth is the only marketing it is going to get.

But I was so into the movie I didn't laugh until afterwards.

Trust me, never go bowling at Plainviews house if he holds a grudge against you.

Trust me....

Spud, I am not familiar with the TB'ers you mentioned, but there are plenty of trolls to go around.

Some pretty cools shots. There are some pictures that may give away some plot points.

That's why I gave a warning. Look at page seven for a very cool concept art of the Moorwen.

G4tv.com has an interview with designer Patrick Tatopoulos and it shows a model of the Moorwen.

I like the way it looks fast, yet muscular and strong.

Damn, I'm getting more and more excited about this flick.

You'll see the movie poster and link to the photos. There are some pretty good shots.

Damn I dig movies like this. Creature design trumps Cloverfield design in my humble opinion.

Almost like Vermithrax Pejorative's pups and Dogs from Ghostbusters.

If it is a good creature design and performs well, I will forgive a tremendous amount of shoddy script, bad acting and lack of nudity.

Hell, I loved Cloverfield and you barely got to see it.

See what I mean by forgiving a lot of movie tripe just for the creatures?

Me admitting that should let you know how much fun I have watching these things fuck shit up.

We don't get enough creature features.

I'm just saying it's that much better when the monster has a good movie behind it. I'm such a sucker for creatures, that I even tried to watch AVP:R, much to my shame.

Did you see The Host chitty? Loved that creature design.

And despite the crappiness of the movie surrounding it, the robot dog from Red Planet is also fun.

Bam! I lost that bet and had to go see TWO of her movies just even things out. Definatly Maybe was one of them and it was pretty good though so I didn't get payback too bad.

Finally got my hands on The Host dvd and watched it three times the first night. Once with wife, then with borther-in-law and then after everyone was asleep with a big, straight glass of Blanton's whiskey.

Loved the family almost as much as the creature.

Man, when that thing spots them and starts swinging like Tarzan under the bridge...or the tension as the little girl is climbing over it...don't get me started, I can talk about that movie all day.

Loved it, loved it, loved it.

Damn, I'm rambling I need to step and think about this... and give top 5.

Yes, that alien in the Ariival freaked me out with the bassackward legs, as did the long-legged alian from Close Encounters.

The weinstein company invested early on in exchange for the north american distribution rights. Their stake lies in getting the film out there. They aren't just hurting themselves if they send it to DVD They're screwing over the company (Ascendant Pictures who also made the groovy lucky number slevin) that actually made the film. I know it cost's money to put a feature in theaters but I sincerely doubt that 1250 screens wouldn't make up the difference even if it flopped. I really don't think they would be any worse off than not giving the movie a chance at all. That's what pisses me off. Feelings about Moriarty's writup aside, I think the movie deserves that chance, and as a viewer, I think the suits should respect us enough to give us the option.

And how bout this one not yet mentioned: The little troll from Cat's Eye. What a great little piece of work. Hellboy 2 is like an all you can eat buffet of creature design, Chitty.

I thought the same thing when I saw this monster. I wish it had been the Cloverfield monster instead.

I'm a huge creature feature nut too. It all stems from movies like"Creature from the Black Lagoon".

Damn, I remember feeling bad for the cyclops because he was just hanging out and helping and all.

Also forgot I liked the Kraken from POTC too. Davey Jones rocked too.

Speaking of energy field, I have the Johnny Quest episode on my ipod when they go to island and that one-eyed energy creature is tearing shit up. That thing scared me when I was kid.

And Chuck Russell's Blob was also gelatinously beautiful.

Also the Oliphants.

T-100 without skin.

I wished I could have seen the Sentinels in the training room in X-3.

And can't forget the Iron Giant!

Can't remember the Nessie from that movie, although I can't tell you the last time I have seen it.

Even CLOVERFIELD was great. Yep, it's fair to say I loves me some monsters too.

Though didn't the Critters remind you of Fizzgig (furry ball with three sets of teeth) in the firt all-you-can-eat-creature-featu re-buffet THE DARK CRYSTAL? Man, every single creature in that whole fucking movie was AWESOME!

Of course it triggered my amazing fear of the baby in It's Alive.

I thought of getting therapy to see why that baby scared me so much. Damn I was petrified of that damn thing!

Also remember some classic Transformer threads that just exploded and the vintage Cloverfield discussions.

I love TERRO VISION. It is unapologetically, unremittingly awful, but lovable for it.

Moorwen at the bottom along with planetscape.

Again, the troll from Cat's Eye. Are there people out there who haven't seen this and love monsters? Fix your mistake.

a goofy mess, but memorable in it's goofiness is Meatloaf Bear from Prophecy.

Draco from Dragonheart was an awesome design.

Buckbeak from Harry Potter.

most all of Labyrinth.

The Tingler-hunks of rubber never scarier.

The Cenobites.

Gremlins of course.

The Gramork.

Ghidorah.

if animation counts, The Red Bull

The Judas Bugs

What about the piraha's with the wings?

Demon from Amityville III that came up from the well in the basement.

Winged beings in Beastmaster were pretty cool.

Dragon (or Hydra) in Willow.

Luck Dragon in Neverending Story.

the Mondoshawan from The Fifth Element, and Gary Oldman's elephant pet.

the brain bug from Starship Troopers was a goofy fave.

The little bug eyed monster from the Tales from the Darkside episode called "Inside the Closet". That one was courtesy of Tom Savini.

the little goblins from The Gate.

The Reapers from Blade II. surprised it took me this long to mention them.

Sammael, Hound of the Ressurection.

So I thought it would be cool to have everyone of our relatives at the glass and I whip back the blankie and start whipping that thing around.

Long story short, they were sold out on the website and wife didn't find the idea funny AT ALL.

Fenrir from Runestone.Though lets face it, he looks like crap, and is mostly here because he is a viking related monster, and the cops actually say "Nah, it's not Fenrir. Probably some loon in a bulletproof dogsuit!'

Kudos, though. That would have rocked!

I think I would have to find a back door to the hospital no doubt.

Although knowing my mom, ever the loving mother she is, would have said something like "Oh she looks like her daddy!"

I'm still going to get one though. Thanks for the link Danny, as I forgot where to get one. I will send pics after it comes in...

Luckily my daughter is cuter than a box of kittens.

Second, I am very well aware what site this is and it is a site that very often singles out entire groups of movies despite attention that may have been given to them in the past. My suggestion is to create YET ANOTHER feature where Aintitcool specifically identifies and advertises a movie that isn't getting studio support or the attention it arguably deserves. Maybe the wrong has gotten out and a needed talent(s) is about to get washed down the drain while we get another Alien Vs Predator movie. Sometimes the general DVD columns or the name dropping isn't enough and a dedicated article, like this one, would help create an awareness and active dialogue with the very fans who are going to get the kick in the arse and go see it. Mori's letter was a great first step so why not continue the standard. I'm sorry if this kind of irrational positivity is offensive to you. I'd be pissed too if I could only see the crappy, mundane aspects of life.

You see, while mankind is indeed a very dangerous species, nearly everyone knows that man also has the gift of conciousness in general.

Even life-long criminals will kill a child molester when put in prison with them. That proves that some compassion is at least buried deep within not matter the person.

Most animals are without this. Unless it is there own species, all bets are off. Sort of like when Lions kill a Hyena, 95% of the time they don't eat it. They are trying to rid themselves of a species that will harm theirs.

What intrigues me about species like the Moorwen is they may possess not only a level of intelligence not seen since Raptors in Jurassic Park or the Xenomorphs, but maybe worse...

The intellegence of man with a lack of conciousness about killing anything that gets in its way.

Now that is truly a scary creature.

I think there is real potential there. Want to tune in with the wife and see how it goes down, provided it hasn't already aired.

Can't wait to see how he handled the struggle within.

Sort of Like Ed Harley and Pumpkinhead maybe? Seperate but the same?

I didn't mean to imply it was just like Pumpkinhead or trying to copy it. I was comparing the struggle of the characters and how they can't help but be fatally tied together so to speak.

Sorry.

If Fessenden did it justice, and I know he is capable of it, then this will be a spooky good time.

I saw a talkback about it, but got too busy at work, newborn baby, etc, etc.

Where would I find a copy? I googled his episode and came up with the air date, but nothing really else.

Does he mind if we read it?

I really love to write and would like to read and hopefully learn a thing or two.

I used to write for a small paper and was told I could do whatever I wanted in my department. LOVED IT.

But the pay was chicken feed and I bowed down to the almighty dollar and the 9-5 that came with it.

Let me see if I can find the link for you.

Mainly due to the eating of human flesh and the mortal and spiritual taboo that follows the eating of one's own species.

Maybe causes the true evil of man to manifest itself in physical form?

I'd love to still have this talkback running so we can discuss it when it airs amongst all the other horror fans running about here.

I also had fun in the Friday the 13th talkback and The Stand talkback as well.

Hope the director played up the isolation of the house on the moutain, as it makes the victims and the viewers feel even more helpless.

Also would like to see Wendigo creature as something like Pumpkinhead or similar, not just a zombie. But I know budgets can make those decisions for you.

Script reads very well Moriarty. Well done.

At the very least one of them better be in Halifax so all the people who were actually in it and working on it can go see it.

Barring that, The Locarno Film festival in Switzerland is playing the movie in roughly two weeks. Hopefully it gets some great buzz. It's not in contention but it will be up for a peoples choice award for it's "premiere" as well as some other Variety sponsored award.

And then it will be playing throughout the month at the Fantasy Filmfest in Germany...

I can't remember if I stated it or not, but the actual cost of the film is more than just slightly north of 30mil. It's "official" budget is about 40 million (originaly it was closer to 32million) and final costs are rumored to be about 47 million dollars.

there was a naked tits outer space laser battle..

I'm wondering if Frightfest will show it. I'll go and check

Is THAT the TRAILER PARK OF TERROR, or am I going insane?

Ah. I am indeed wrong.

Take your wanky dating site, polish it up and jam it up your arse.

It's enough to drive me to the pub.

Thoughts: It is not the most horrendous piece of shit I've seen, and I would say it was more entertaining than 10,000 BC (which ain't saying much). I would also argue that this one is still better than AVP since no humans actually became a Predator sidekick.

Plus, it did have Michelle from 24 whom I would really like 24 hours with.

True it didn't have a human sidekick and this is a good thing, but it did have a predalion that can impregnate women through the mouth, and committed the absolutely unfuckingforgivable sin of setting it in present day small town America.

At least AvP had the sense to set it somewhere exotic.

What bugs me (a lot) is why on earth can they not set it in Space?

I wrote it off as a bad pirate copy, only to find out later from a mate that the copy I have is perfect and the fucking film is MEANT to look like that. How incompetent can you get?

Honest.

Horrible shit.

Where is everybody? Not working surely?

2 is OK- worth it for the Easter Bunny death and the giant Krite Ball at the end,

3 is crap- with the only redeeming feature of the Krites being saved by the intergalictic equivalent of Greenpeace because they're about to go extinct,

4 sets it in Space following Jarv's golden rule for late sequels (you want a good one, set it in Space), so is therfore quite good.

Charlie is in all of them, but never stops being an annoying dick that you just want eaten.

I will still maintain that the second one is better than the first. For one thing, the two stoner dudes at the gun store (or whatever store it was) got their heads blown off by the predator, which was amusing. Secondly, the blonde chick had an amusing death as well running into the flying predator morning star thingy.

I can't stress this enough: no human sidekick who was given a "war mark" by a predator.

If it was possible, I would send a web FLAMING LEG KICK to my professor and knock his ass back a quarter century.

It might have had trailers and interviews but that still doesn't mean it flew under the radar. I was working at a Blockbuster at the time and I had to recommend that movie to practically everyone coming in because they had never heard of it.

Jarv, AVP:R was one of the worst shot movies ever. The sewer scenes were impossible to make out and the editing was worthless. The studio should have taken the loss and burned every print.

Tell me thou lord whom I need to sacrifice to have this deed come to fruition?

Sigh, so many movies, so little time.

Weapon of choice: axe on the back wall or a fire extinguisher?

Fire extinguisher!

*Although, Jarv would like to make extremely clear that he does not in any way condone "The enemy of my Enemy is my friend" shite or tribal marking a human sidekick. Nor does Jarv condone such stupidity as a 300 foot high queen Alien, and he absolutely treats with contempt the pathetic grab at credibility that was casting Lance Henriksson as Mr. Weyland*

It's fucking infuriating, because it can be done. If you take the end of Resurrection as your starting point and have Alien Eggs survive the crash and Earth be infected with a group of people trying to get off the planet and avoid the attention of the Aliens and the Predators then there's your fucking movie.

That took me 3 seconds to think of. You could also blatantly steal Blade Runner's look and have a really fucking degenerate cyberpunk planet.

Aliens and Predators should be hazards avoided- by putting the v in the title they felt that they had to fight. This was wrong.

AVP:R > AVP due to NO HUMAN FUCKING SIDEKICK OF A SUPPOSEDLY BAD ASS MUTHAFUCKER OF A PREDATOR.

At least the dude in AVP:R was alone and was taking out tons of aliens along with a few human stooges.

Didn't another predator at the end of AVP giver her a fucking staff too?

Sorry, the film could have been completely consumed in darkness, and AVP:R would be better.

Aliens and Predators should be natural hazards that are to be avoided.

We used to smarter

But really, pillows, Walmart + Predalion + shot in pitch fucking black + Pizza delivery boy= worse than AvP

If you're not named Arnold, you shouldn't survive an encounter with a Predator, let alone become a "Robin" to their "Batman".

But don't forget that Predator 2 is to blame for AvP. It wasn't even an idea before some dick put an Alien skeleton in the Predators ship.

Ain't ever going to happen though.

I like the Neil Marshall idea...for Aliens I think. More in line with the first one I think is in order.

13th Warrior ruled.

I'll even write the cunting story for them- it isn't hard.

Obviously, I can't possibly write a script and I'd steal ideas from everywhere.

But I'm right off Tarantino at the moment. Fucking Death Proof.

Kill Bill is Tarantino's nuked fridge

9)X3- yuck. Where to begin?

8)Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon- raved to the gills, but the worries started with "It's Jane Austin". Oh deary, deary me.

7)Indaina Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull- should have been gold. Was in fact deeply mediocre, and this is unforgivable for an Indy film.

6)Superman Returns. I could bash this endlessly.

5)Attack of the clones- I was tricked into seeing this, as I was damned sure it would be ass. It was, in fact, worse than ass.

4)The Ring Remake. This was a film dying for a good remake- lose all the Goblin crap from the creepy japanese one, and keep that bleak as fuck ending. We didn't get one. But we were never going to as soon as that tool Kruger was hired to write it. He made it worse by cribbing from the inferior sequel and for some inexplicable reason they CGI-d Sadako. Why would you do this?

3)Kill Bill 2. See above

2)Spiderman 3. How did you fuck this up? idiots. And it was the same creative team.

1)The Phantom Menace. Obviously.

I'm really worried that TDK is going to be another Phantom Menace moment.

ALL BY MY-SEL-EL-ELF

DON'T WANNA BE

You get the idea.

TDK was awesome...just fucking awesome.

Loved Iron Man, Hellboy 2, TDK...

Indy 4 was just okay (which I realize is a crime because of whom was involved and the length of wait), but really, I can't hate on it. Not at all. Though I have a feeling when I rewatch it the whole jungle scenes will bother me to no end.

Right now, Im more concerned for the XFiles movie. Pleeeeaaassee don't suck.

That is sad really.

But the remake was fun and inspired me to seek out the original. It wasn't a disappointment, because I didn't expect anything from it. I also saw it on Halloween on a pseudo date with my future wife so that might have helped things.

Yes, I agree I was disappointed with that film, but to me the biggest letdown of the lot was Red Dragon.

When you look at the cast of that movie: Norton, Keitel, Hoffman, Parker, Fiennes, wow how did they screw that up?

This list is subjective, everyone is bound to have a different top 10.

Red Dragon didn't make the list because I knew Ratner was directing it and I already didn't expect it to hold a candle to Manhunter. Hannibal on the other hand was Ridley fucking Scott- Julianne Moore, Hopkins, Gary Oldman, Ray Liotta, Directed by Ridley Scott. Should have been the shit.

My fault really, for building it up in my head to something it isn't. I should have paid attention to all the Jane Austen comments that Ang Lee was making at the time- then I wouldn't have been let down. Because I wouldn't have watched it.

Also Frankie Faison was ALL the Hannibal movies, including Mann's Manhunter.

Can you imagine Bay directing this?

Hopkins would kick over his bed in his cell and whip out a mini-gun like Arnold had in T-2.

Cut to slow motion shot of Norton diving out of the way....

1. Spielberg's War of the Worlds- This should have been pure spectacle. I recalled that teaser with a whole spielbergian neighborhood walking outside to a spectacular lightshow that was in actuality the forces of the martians fighting the military. It was awesome, and the movie only represented that in fits and starts. What gives? As a result I was massively bummed.No great characters, the Tim Robbins scene, the silliness of the buried machinery, the doofus ending.SIGH.

It's very, very rare for a film to live up to expectations. Such films should be cherished.

The Tooth fairy pushes the flaming wheelchair down the street while a helicopter flies inexplicably by. Soundtrack by Aerosmith.

It would have been better if the son wasn't in the movie at all. Or, if you absolutely have to have the annoying as fuck kid in it, don't have him come back from the bum rush up the hill into utter destruction and then miraclously turning up at the end.

Tim Robbins scene completely killed any momentum in the movie.

I should have included AI.

Still haven't seen it.

Cut to Keitel and Norton looking at each other and saying "We ride together, we die together..."

Car chase (sponsored by General Motors) ensues.

Bonus points awarded for creativity.

Okay, the tension when Fanning and Cruise were avoiding the probe in the basement was a little above average.

Coincidence my ass.

As my wife, whom I recently showed the original to, "this was is better than the Tom Cruise one".

ding-ding-ding...corre ct!

It just wasn't very good and was hideously overhyped.

This is also why I like the final act in Jaws (and the rest of it of course).

I'm sincerely hoping 10,000 BC was just a misstep into the bland.

That is not the Godzilla i grew up with. He would have shown up like the opening scenes, but also would have kicked total ass once the military started attacking.

I honestly think this would have been better as a Bay movie. Think about it, he was made to direct a Godzilla movie about total destruction.

I still turn the movie off everytime when Godzilla starts crossing the bridge at the end.

Then, they go to the trouble of developing this relationship with Ripley and the doctor and just when both are clicking, WHAMMO!, alien tongue through the cranium. It was basically a retread of the first movie. Alien stalks unarmed crew in dark spaces. The lack of originality left me dumbfounded.

I shouldn't have expected much from Godzilla but I grew up on creature features and worshipped the Godzilla movies, so after ID4, I was expecting greatness from the lizard.

I should also add The Lost World to the list. That would actually be right behind Alien3 on my disappointment list.

By referring it to tripe, you hate the world.

Hope you're happy.

kidding, Toad. I only thought Cloverfield was ok, not terrific. If I had gotten caught up in the hype in the summer I would have been hugely disappointed, but I looked at that release date and said, nah, can't be anything too big and waited for a minor critter movie.

I was excitied after watching the trailers, but man was I let down.

Only things I really liked were the bullet to the eye and the airplane scene.

Also the exchanges with Gleason and Platt were gems.

Ho-hum kiddie story with cool graphics and then went with girlfriend and her neighbor's kids to see it.

Wow, I bought it as soon as it came out on video.

Honestly? I got loaded, saw Good Luck Chuck and laughed the whole way through.

Because it won the Oscar I was pre-disposed to hate Shakespeare In Love but thought it was fantastic.

The Island surprised the hell out of me and I still think it's Bay's best movie.

After The Lost World I had zero expectations for Jurassic Park 3 and enjoyed the hell out of it.

When I heard Mel Gibson was making another foreign language film I rolled my eyes and I fear expressing just how much I love Apocalypto because I don't want to get into a flame war.

I need more coffee before I can think of more.

The one that will get me yelled at. A Walk to Remember. I mocked it for months, and then ended up covering for a teacher whose class was watching it, and found myself renting the thing and making my wife watch it. Not great, but I liked it. Same for Legally Blonde.

I haven't seen Prince Caspian yet.

Series7, no I've never read the book. I'll tell you though, the movie was good. Hell, I even liked Dustin in it! And any movie that has a nice orgy scene in it immediately gets a thumbs up from me.

Cool thing about DBS is that it twisted convention just enough to be surprising as a jump out and get ya movie.

I'd add Mars Attacks and There's something about mary. I saw MA stoned to the gills and nearly cried laughing, and was pissed when I saw Mary, but loved both of them.

Wrong.

And they killed Famke. Which just pissed me off. Is Bourne meant to be shagging Julia "shovel face" stiles?

Plus I fell in love with Dina Meyer. She could call me Johnny Rico.

http://i36.tinypic.com/mvrmag .gif

That shot at the end with the 2 old women crying on the bench gets me every time.

I saw the trailer for the sequel and thought, ick.cash grab. Missed the short short first run, and then went to see it because Siskel put it on his best of list as number one. I didnt go thinking it would be, but Siskel was still alive at that point, but it was known he was sick, and was wondering if he was judgement was off. I saw it with my girlfriend, who was the other major impetus in seeing it, and I came out of that movie the biggest fan. Seriously, it's one of my all time favorites now.

Since I'm a dirty pillow, I'd hit shovel face.

Top call by her.

I saw it twice in the theaters.

My favorite couple was the maid and Colin Firth.

I watch it everytime I see it on TNT or USA.

Same for The Frighteners, which I actually was asked my parents to take my siblings to because somehow we all thought it was a PG Disney-esque movie about Mikey Fox and some cute ghosts. It wasnt until I got to the theater and saw it was R. Luckily it was a second run theater and no one cared what you went to see. That one was a major about-face from expectations. The Grim Reaper. Rotting John Astin. Jake Busey as the serial killer.

I haven't seen the Frightners is a looong time, but I remember liking that one too.

I liked the bleak ending. Apparently there is a cube 0 now. Which breaks Jarv's second rule of good cinema: NEver do a prequel.

He was great with Ben Elton, but now he's just a hack.

Seriously, this is the man that writes the most insipid middle-class romcom shite that these islands produces. And people fucking flock to it.

See you soon.

So when it started and revealed itself to be a noir about an invisible demon, I was very happy.

Oh, and because Danny mentioned it above, my wife was watching Bridget Jones again a few nights ago. Those movies blow. Seriously.

I'm guilty for liking Notting Hill though.

The Bourne movies to me were OK, but not the classics some make them out to be.

Pluto Nash could've been worse. Rosario Dawson makes most things better.

Heartbreak Kid was entertaining. More than it deserved to be.

I was completely blown away with how great it was.

I knew it was going to be at the very least an above average film, but wow.

Bonus points for most of the crowd not knowing it was one of three movies. At the end they were like "WTF?"

Anyone see Goal! I thought it was going to suck ass and I really liked it...though on the second viewing I hated it?

Also the opening moments with the girl on the safety line. High tension.

So many funny quotes in that movie:

"It's amazing this day and age what a man will go through for his bitch."

"Gravity is a bitch aint it?"

"It costs a fortune to heat this place (tosses more money on the fire)"

However, both of them are terrible Bridget Jones movies that do a real disservice to the quite nasty satire of the book. We're meant to think Bridget is a thick, dim, obsessed sloaney cow- she isn't meant to be lovable.

The movies totally miss this point.

The bastard hasn't a clue what England is like. And Julia Roberts was hopelessly miscast in it.

Julia Roberts was miscast because she doesn't have the ability to make you think for a second that she would look at this fucking loser.

Curtis is only capable of writing about a pathetic group of people that do not represent the country. I'm privately educated and I don't know a single person that is remotely similar to the chinless wankers he creates. He's a phony, psuedo cunt.

England hasn't been like his vision in about 50 years. He's a cunt.

If you can, track down Twin Town- which is fucking good fun.

Also Notting Hill guy, did he direct Enduring Love? That movie had a good trailer bad movie.

I didnt even see it at the theater. Caught it on dvd. and LAUGHED LAUGHED LAUGHED.

I'm going to lay waste to the disciplinary hearing with my trusty #2.

I saw the trailers and told my wife it lookd completely unwatchable.

Then somehow, it was the very movie my father-in-law wanted to see last Father's Day, so we went. And, to my surprise, I really really liked it. I have it on dvd infact.

As for Surfs up haven't seen it, want too but I keep putting it off because I think it looks dumb. But I rented Over the Hedge and Bee Moive and was amazed at how good they were. Especially the last 15 minutes of Hedge were mindblowingly crazy. I've been turned off by Dreamworks films for forever (can they not find Bluth anywhere?) Shrek was boring and The Fish one and Zoo one are reasons enough to give up watching cartoons. So I skiped Bee Movie and Over The Hedge, I was way wrong. Hedge is much better, but Bee movie was a lot funnier then the trailer lends it to be, and it makes for a good double feature to Happy Feet, because Jerry the Bee was wrong in the end.

The Way of the Gun was forgettable for me, so I don't feel one way or another for it.

The Usual Suspects is a great movie.

Just watched the directors cut to Payback the other day in like the first 15 minutes Mel punches his wife in the head and that was awesome too, the rest of the movie was not as good as the original cut. Seeing that Mel pretty much made the original cut I trust his judgement over that other guy who's movies save for Payback sucked (direction wise, he's written some good movies).

Also the sasquatch ramming the side of the RV was classic.

Those people go nuts.

And Im not directing this at AICN solely. There is scarcely anything bout this flick? Is this a new marketing technique? Anti-market saturation?

I like how he said he was an animal lover and then he saw rat-boy and it was all "Get A Gun!"

Classic.

I swear that guy's bottom lip is quivering.

That show kills me.

They also get their money's worth from that little actor.

Or the one where Stephen Baldwin shows up as he mob boss, and he expects the "victim" to realize the whole tihng is a hoax because he is Stephen Baldwin and she will recognize, and she doesn't even when he reveals himself as SB she still has this "Who?" look on her face.

Good times.

Around the same time, there was the ep where someone is taking a big group of teens to a party, and decide to take an abandoned road since the main one is closed down, and they are attacked by vampires, on motorcylces I think, who are driving right next to the van, an dpulling open the door. They also bite big bloody chunks in the driver's neck and then surround the teens. I'm pretty sure they all needed to change their underwear, and most looked like they were prepared for the end.

When he was on the show that played pranks on people and he really killed the guy in the parking garage.

The sound effects guy kept repeating those sounds as the host was freaking out.

I nearly shit my pants laughing.

Plus it had Sonny Corlione as the bag man and for once he gave a performance that wasn't phoned in. Great one liners, good performances all the way around, friggin fun movie.

Way Of the Gun Is a worthy addition to the list of genre films about tough guys.

I love that the woman in story is named Truly Scruptious.

I keep waiting for a dancer or porn star to use that name.

Or someone honestly beaing scared to death and having a heart attack. Maybe they could put that on the DVD extras.

Im just glad I don't have to watch Batman and feel guilty because he really beats up elderly people on the side.

Wait a sec, it would be funny if had those tendencies.

I laughed so hard when he put that nail gun to Chloe's head and when he was pointing to himself while banging that girl.

Also when the ATM wanted him to feed it the kitten. God I love that movie for some reason.

and mulholland falls.. or drive.. the one with jenny connelly's boobs.

much better, slow-burn humour.

I kid though, because for all I know he is a nice guy behind closed doors.

I'm sure it is a pain to be rich and famous in the fact that it would be hard to find true friends and not remoras sucking to your fame.

Oh, and LVOE ACTUALLY - exactly WHY is it great? What the fuck actually happens in it? Hugh Grant's PM bumbling like Hugh Grant always fucking does, chasing the foul-mouthed-for-comedy-effect (like ALL the fucking dialogue in VICAR OF DIBLEY) McCutcheon. Wow. Alan Rickman not-quite-cheating with his ugly secretary. How.. umm... average. Kris Marshall in five separate scenes essentially saying "I'm gonna get laid! By sexy American chicks!". nope, they'll call your accent "cute" and laugh at your sub-standard, English teeth. Bah. Only Bill Nighy gets a free pass, and even he's stilted, boring and not that interesting. In fact, fuck all happens in LOVE ACTUALLY, and I don't care if Keira Knightley does marry the Operative from SERENITY and grin like Stan Winston's Alien Queen, that movie is shit from top to bottom. Yes, even the Colin Firth and foreign nanny bits. FUCK. ALL. HAPPENS. And by God is it boring.

Only adding Al Murray's Pub Landlord could have made that movie bearable.

BIO DOME rocks. As do JOE DIRT, BUBBLE BOY (bet this isn't on Jake Gylenhaal's CV these days), BASEKETBALL (ROADKILL: CAUGHT ON CAMERA. I fucking wept with laughter!), THE NEW GUY, and the daddy of all under-rated comedies, the sublime OFFICE SPACE. Every second in that movie is comedic perfection. IDIOCRACY was pretty damn funny too.

Didn't Baldwin become a christer or something? Dipped in the blood of the lamb and all?

http://tinyurl.com/562ut2

DGDB: I was cruising through the titles on the Batman TB and opened the one Samsquanch mentioned me. I'll run across him at some point and tell him what's up. Thanks for the heads up, I appreciate it.

I see you're arguing with Node again and what is that USC dudes problem? I didn't read his posts because I haven't seen the movie.

Once you go to the, "I just had sex" card or threaten to kick somebodies ass on an annonymous website, you've proven yourself to be a tool of the highest order. Did he play the living in the parents basement card also? You know, the single most overused insult on the interwebs.

And yes, the skatebaording was on there.

Wow, you would think they would know how dated some of those saying are.

Rad? I haven't used that word since someone asked the what the single greatest movie featuring a boy and girl at a dance on bicycles was.

It's just that I am working class, raised (and currently living in) working class areas, and they're never adequately represented in British cinema. You either get the grim-as-hell Northern dystopian movies like KES, NAKED, anything by Mike Leigh, or the daddy of all grim Northern dramas, the horror show THREADS - or you get the cheeky chappy Cockney crime dramas, your LOCK STOCKS, THIS YEAR'S LOVE etc. Shane Meadows at least approximates, better than anyone else, the speech, the slang, the attitudes, the background... I do share an East Midlands heritage with Shane (we grew up less than 20 miles away from each other) so maybe it's regional, but he seems to be the most authentic. It's not a pissing contest - Mike Leigh's Northern stuff is bleaker (especially NAKED) and you can't beat Manchester, Liverpool or Leeds for criminal squalor (I hate to admit it, but SHAMELESS is also pretty accurate as regards working class life, and it's as Mancunian as they come) so it's not a case of me wanting to be seen as an 'ard bastard. I mean, I live up the road from Nottingham, which is fairly bad for gun crime, but not a patch on the Mancs or the Scousers.

As for the upper-class life, which I tasted as a working-class boy at an upper-class boarding school paid for by an Assisted Place... I hate to say it, but the HARRY POTTER movies pretty much nail the boarding school experience. Obviously minus pretty much all the negatives - where I went, if it were more realistic, Draco would be raping Potter while Crabbe and Goyle were holding him down, and that's NOT an exaggeration - but the sense of history, the way it's filmed, the relationships between the characters - all spot on for the boarding school experience. Honourable mentions must go to IF... (which is an anarchist classic, as well as a bang-on representation of boarding school life) - I know EXACTLY how McDowell felt at the end! - and DEAD POETS SOCIETY (hey, I was in a poetry and literature society, they are JUST like that). By and large, life in the UK is more sweetness and light than dark and gritty (despite what the media would have you think) and Noel Clarke's movies (KIDULTHOOD / ADULTHOOD) are more a way to feed the Daily Mail negativity media than a true representation of the UK today. But I haven't seen a moderate working-class movie that accurately depicts what the working class that AREN'T scum get up to. I know plenty of no-hoper skanks who behave EXACTLY like the Gallaghers in SHAMELESS, and I know plenty of middle/upper class twats who aspire to be as pathetic as those scrotes, but as to average working class Midlanders who enjoy life without wanting to rob each other or get high every night, there's no real representation at all. Shane Meadows is the closest you'll get.

Being English (or British - I'm not precious) is a curiously schizophrenic thing you find yourself apologising for a lot. But no, I don't want you guys thinking I'm trying to portray my life in the big hard white ghetto or anything. If anything, it's depressingly middle-of-the-road in all ways.

It's funny how touchy we Brits are about what class we perceive ourselves to be in, and what we want others to perceive us as. I always thought one of the most astute observations on class in this country was COMMON PEOPLE by Pulp - the lyrics to that song are bang-on. There is a set of people - Rhys Ifans is a very good example, as is crack twat Pete Doherty - who are rolling in money, stinking filthy rich, yet wander around looking like tramps and completely disregarding personal hygiene. I will never understand why the upper class have a fascination with being working class - or why the working class are so keen to live down to the stereotype given in SHAMELESS when they could aspire to better. I try to aspire to beter behaviour, but I'm not ashamed of my working class heritage - even though I feel like an outsider having spent the ages 11-16 around upper class people more than working class.

Man, it's confusing up in my head. I yam what I yam, that's all that I yam. Cug yug yug.

Foods pretty good, can't really bitch about it, its just that I want a double double. I've been thinking about one for the last week or so. I'm a big fan of In-N-Out, its one of few fast foods I'll eat. The other ones being Fat Burger and Tommy Burger.

Have you ever been to the orginal Fat Burger on La Cieniga south of the Beverly Center? That place is fun to eat at. You got everybody throwing the hairy eyeball at each other. Good times.

And a good night to you sir I'm off to bed.

I do want to commend you for caring so deeply about a film that you'd write this letter, but you'd be better served by coming up with a way to convince him this can make money.

The tough part about that, of course, is that if the trailers are to be believed it doesn't look like it can. The budget looks SUB Sci-Fi channel, and the sets and costumes smack of Uwe Boll's BLOODRAYNE.

You criticize us for having a defeatist attitude, but it's there for a reason. Genre fans like us have learned two hard lessons - studios DESPISE us so much they grit their teeth 'til blood comes out when someone suggests a genre picture be made (unless it can be 'sold' as something else - "Don't think of it as fantasy - think of it as hot guys in fetish theme gear! The gay crowd will LOVE it!" - LORD OF THE RINGS) and the rest of the world LAUGHS at us (unless they're watching the hot guys in LORD OF THE RINGS).

I know you think that I say this stuff to sound smart, but it's not the case. I just recognize this movie has NO chance of making money. Not even a little chance. None. You could put this in 3000 theaters and you'd get $4m on the opening weekend. You could advertise it all summer. At the end of the day, Mori, the cost is going to outweigh ANYONE's interest, and it'll make its budget back straight to DVD. In fact, if Harvey is smart, he won't even bother with those 50 theaters and will put it straight to video.

The absolute best balance I've ever seen was in The Full Monty. It hit the line between urban misery and lower middle class life spot on.

And Thunderpants is shit. Avoid.

Damn.

It seems to me that Ebert has a better view of the whole thing that the review here. Yes, I know he has been quite positive lately, but at least here I get an actual feeling for what the movie is, and is about. It sounds good to me, regardless of Ebert's personal comments on it.

Pillow, I'll get your package out to you on Monday and it'll be sent overnight.

grumpy_is_good@yahoo .com

Me, I'm voting The Dead Zone.

Jonah, Maryland is fine. Hell, I'm willing to send some out to Danny and that SOB lives in California.

I never saw Passion so I can't comment.

But with Mel we have the Mad Max stuff, LW1&2, Payback, We Were Soldiers and of course as I have declared my creepy love for lately, The Patriot and Apocalypto. And his voiceover in Chicken Run was great. And if I remember corrrectly Conspiracy Theory was pretty good.

He does have some dreck on that resume though.

Although I do always laugh when he accidentally electrocutes himself.

I'm not sure if there's an actor/filmmaker with a perfect track record. Personally, Ridley Scott and Michael Mann come reeeeeeally close. Maybe one misstep a piece in my book.

I want to say something nice, but I just saw The Dark Knight and I have very little that's nice to say.

Um... Megan Fox has a wonderful, wonderful midrif. That'll have to do.

I look forward to whatever she does next, even if Juno did make me want to throw squashed up pop cans at a fictional character.

If you've seen the film, you know what I mean.

I'll e-mail you back with titles so I don't send you stuff you've already seen.

I stand corrected. After looking at IMDB, Ridley Scott has a few missteps so I guess that puts him in the same category as Senior Spielbergo.

Day-Lewis has a pretty impressive resume. Then again, he chooses his roles carefully and infrequently so he has less to critique than say, Harrison Ford.

I thought American Gangster was just okay, nothing spectacular.

It's still a decent watch, though.

HARVEY'S ASSISTANT: ...sir, here is a letter from one of the personalities of that geek site AICN.

HARVEY: what? well hand it over. *grumble, grumble* "crashlands on earth in the time of vikings" *grumble, grumble* "overpowered after an encounter with wulfric"...Jones, what the fuck is this?

HARVEY

I saw the 3-hour version of American Gangster the same day I saw Jesse James and Michael Clayton. I was knocked out on the couch with a fever of 103 and delirious. I loved all 3 movies. I'm afraid to watch any of them again for fear my flu influenced my opinion.

HARVEY'S ASSISTANT: ...sir, here is a letter from one of the personalities of that geek site AICN.

HARVEY: what? well hand it over. *grumble, grumble* "crashlands on earth in the time of vikings" *grumble, grumble* "overpowered after an encounter with wulfric"...Jones, what the fuck is this?

HARVEY'S ASSISTANT (JONES): i'm sorry, sir...

HARVEY: what else ya got for me?

JONES: i just picked up your new benz off the lot. it's waxed and ready to go. also, quentin wants to come in about "bastards."

HARVEY: sure, sure. listen. NEW CARS DON'T GET WAXED!

I just remember Cameron Crowe going undercover and that high school in California before he did Fast Times at Ridgemont High.

He knocked that one out of the park. Loved that movie.

Juno was watchable, but the language of Page was most distracting to me, which seemed to get the best reviews. Maybe I'm crazy.

Garner looking in the nursery not saying anything, but nervously fidgeting screamed louder than most of the dialogue. That was my favorite part of the movie.

And when it showed her at the end of the movie looking at the baby and doing things on her own. Amazing.

I'm feeling a little confused at the moment. I read a bunch of reviews, and for the life of me I feel like I just saw a different film.

Maybe she felt if some was good, then more was better as far as the verbal output and style of Page's mouth.

I will have to watch it again and see if gets any better.

Eckhart Agrees To Third Batman

Film23 July 2008 9:10 AM, PDT | From wenn.com | See recent WENN news

Aaron Eckhart would reprise his role from The Dark Knight - because working with Christian Bale is "phenomenal".

Eckhart, who plays District Attorney Harvey Dent in the sequel, confesses he "absolutely" would star in a third Batman film.

He tells WENN, "To work with Christian (Bale) all over again, and the cast, would be phenomenal. I think this movie is a movie of a lifetime."

I didn't know there was a director's cut as I went to the theater to see it.

Is there a big difference?

TDK thread is killing us.

Coming out of the cinema, I just felt weird. So much hype, so many great reviews and responses, and I wanted to be as excited about a new Batman film as everyone else seems to be. But I thought it was mostly alright and, in some places, downright awful.