I'm not saying she's ugly or anything but as soon as she talks she stops being hot. Jenna Dewan didn't have that problem.

Ghost Town. Yeah go ahead and bash me but I thought it was funny! Saw a lot of myself in Gervais's character is probably why.

Next up...Tommy Boy and Layer Cake.

I had the good fortune of watching Cool Hand Luke for the first time recently, on Blu-Ray, so it looked incredible. All I have to say is that it deserves its status as a classic.

Yeah watched it for the first time not long ago as well. Great film, one of my favourites.

Ghost Town was enjoyable. I would love Gervais in almost anything though.

I watched the vast majority of Monster's Ball on Friday night. I was pretty satisfied with what I saw, but I tend to dig dramas concerning racism. Yesterday, I went to the Shattuck Cinemas in Berkeley and saw Folman's Waltz With Bashir. Needless to say, I was floored. It's phenomenally structured, animated, and realized, up to the final frame which gives the film an eerie sense of reality that could have only been precluded by animation. I was very impressed, and the seats at the Shattuck Cinemas enhanced the experience to a degree. XD It's like sitting in first class (not that I've ever been): giant lazy-boys with huge cup holders, with intricate Egyptian-influence on all four walls (plus stars on the ceiling).

Hi Pedro

ooh err

My girlfriend and I go to the Shattuck very regularly. We like this theater as they tend to have all the indi movies.

We obviously live close to each other unless you commute across continents to the Shattuck, which i doubt!

We have a ritual.

We always walk 2.4 miles to the Shattuck. Then there is the California, Albany Twin, Oaks, Cerrito, etc.. In our back pack is a gourmet meal that consists of a foreign beer, a bottle of wine, bottle opener, glasses, plates, paper towels, pickles, a gourmet home made sandwich, olives and kettle chips. The walk back is fun!

We call it movie dinner.

Rob

I don't commute across the continent, but it's not exactly close. I'm grounded near San Francisco most of the time, but I commute to Sunnyvale on the weekends to make sure my parents haven't died. XD If I ever visit Shattuck again, I will need to take BART. Driving there's too hard.

In keeping with the topic, I haven't exactly watched a movie, but I did spend a fair amount of time watching the Superbowl, if that counts. It was nice to see the underdogs almost win, but not quite. I'm sure they learned some valuable lessons instead. <.<

I just finished watching with my girlfriend "The Shawshank Redemption". She had never seen it, and is more used to movies on the same level as "White Chicks" and "Bride Wars" (yes, people that enjoy those movies do exist, and sometimes they're even those that you love the most). She said the movie was beautiful and great; a little sad, though.

And I'm currently watching Season 1 of "The Wire". So far, it is very well done and makes you want to watch the entire season in one sitting.

Just saw Let the Right One In. Excellent film, loved the visual style.

Hi Trevor

i liked that alot as well. Cold

Rob

JCVD

Really liked this. I've seen way too many bad Jean Claude Van Damme (JCVD) movies over the years as I used to live in Brussels.

This is like no other. Really strong monochromatic visual style, nice direction, cool jazz soundtrack and a strong "acting" performance from the man himself. It's also short at 96 minutes.

Maybe he can come back to Hollywood as a character actor?

Story - JCVD is a loser action star in B movies and he's moaning and winging about life in general. He happens to get involved in a bank heist.....

This was a big surprise for me - 7/10 or 3 stars on the Berardinelli scale

Rob

I'm just going to say it, screw Let the Right One In!

The only things I liked were the cinematography and the "love" story between the two leads. The vampire aspects were literally shoe-horned in and characters were just introduced only to die. I would've liked it there were no vampires in it cause how it was treated in the story was just as disrespectful than what Twilight as done to vampires.

I love disagreeing with people, because I get to say things like "you're so full of shit."

So the only two things you liked about the movie were the strongest points about it? The cinematography is breathtaking, and the relationship between the two leads is among the best I've seen on screen for years. It feels absolutely real, nothing forced. Which is a lot more said than most romantic comedies.

I'm not sure how you feel the Vampire angle ruined the story. It was crucial in pointing out the differences between the leads. It's the classic romeo and juliet story, two people who cannot be together because of their backgrounds. They push through regardless, and the ending is absolutely tragic. The boy has become the vampire's new handler. He'll be doing the killing, and blood collecting from now on. Eventually he'll grow to an age where he can no longer properly support her, and she'll kill him the same way she did her old handler. None of this is explained because it's implied. She's clearly been alive for a long time, and they obviously can never have kids or a proper relationship. The boy has already been psychologically ruined by his parents, so he's the perfect guy to collect blood.

The vampire is also among the best on screen in the last 20 years. Those Ann Rice brooding ones were boring. She's affected by sunlight, can't be seen in mirrors, has incredible agility, requires human blood, and strikes fear into the hearts of animals. The only things missing were crosses, garlic and holy water. Crosses and Holy Water would of introduced religious elements to the movie that would of been unnecessary, and garlic has always been seen as a bit silly. So maybe you can elaborate on how the movie "ruined" vampires as badly as Twilight, which did not require human blood, could be in direct sunlight, and were unaffected by pretty much everything else that hurts vampires. I don't see the parallel.

------

This rant brought to you by "Screw Let the Right One In," followed by zero criticism besides not believing a 12 year old girl vampire.

It's only downhill from here. It becomes a regular occurrence to watch 3 episodes in a row, only stopping because it's 12:30 in the morning and you have to be at work in 7 hours.

Omar is probably the greatest anti-hero of the 00's, better than any movie I can think of anyway.

I believe in a 12 year old "girl" vampire. I believe in all the things that happened. But I do believe that the movie, and possibly the book which I haven't read so it may not be as bad there, just threw in the vampire aspects. It's like "Well we got this decent love-story about a girl and screwed-up boy."
"Brilliant! But make the girl a vampire."
"But..."
"Do it! I, the executive, have spoken!"

Then it's like, well a vampire has gotta kill so let's put some locals that might has well have "Victim" tattooed on his or her forehead. That's what I had a problems with! Not the love story or the fact that there was a vampire in it. If Eli just killed her old handler and the guys at the end I would've been kinder to it. Hell, if those locals were integrated in the movie more organically I would've been kinder to it.

Alright, maybe comparing it to Twilight may be a bit extreme but I still think that just throwing in the vampire aspects is still disrespectful. It's like the movie, and possibly the book, has no trust in itself and just put a vampire in to just make things interesting. It just not respectful to the vampire lore if you're going to do that.

Lastly, if you say I'm full of shit make sure you attack the points I say I'm full of shit of. The lack of criticism is fine. The comparison to Twilight is also fine. But when you say that I'm full of shit cause I'm too dumb to get the ending...which you didn't say I was but it seemed to be implied I get a bit peeved. And when you talk about the vampire lores that weren't in the movie, so what. All the important ones were there so I didn't mind the religious artifacts missing. Hell, vampire movies have been making fun of those since the Christopher Lee Days.

So fine, I'll stand alone in my 5/10 opinion. I stood alone when I saw it on Horrorhound back in August and I'll stand alone here now.

Now for something completely different:

South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.

It's still as awesome as it was when I saw it a few years ago, it's even better the show itself.

8/10

Yes! Can never get enough of this movie.

I don't mind that you don't like the movie, but calling the vampire aspects "just thrown in?" Really?? It's what the whole movie is about. The relationship between the two leads is fantastic... and it's about a relationship between a teenager and a vampire and all the complexities that that entails.
Also, this does not feel like a film that had studio interference and executives going, "I have spoken!"

Barb Wire

It could've been fun trash and in a sense it is but Pam Anderson is so flat and lifeless that it does suck the life and bad-assery out of the film.

5/10