I just finished watching Spellbound, which was fasc-in-at-ing, in a gut wrenching sort of way. I found a lot of the scenes hard to watch, the tension was so high. Much scarier than a slasher flick, if ya ask me.

Seriously! Cause they spell the word, and then they cut away to the reaction and the whole time we're like, "Well? Well? DID THEY SPELL IT RIGHT OR WHAT?!" And then there's that awful silence where you don't know whether the ding's coming or not, and you don't know when you've passed the crucial moment after which a ding is no longer evitable.

Completely unaware brush with greatness.

Hil's parents are friends with Harry Altman's parents, and a friend of mine went to the same high school as the Indian kid.

Did you watch the extras? You should watch the deleted footage of the three spellers. It's good stuff. There's a girl from Ann Arbor!

And Blade II is better.

The movie had Blade falling in love with a Care Bear with fangs. Instead of Stephen Dorff's inconoclast Deacon Frost with interesting lackeys Mercury & Quinn, not to mention Blade's own mother, we got Thomas Kretschmann doing a Max Schreck impression, an octopus-mouthed professional wrestler wannabe, and the Hitler Youth as redesigned by Hot Topic. Instead of N'bushe Wright's grim self-sufficient doctor—who had a complex dramatic conflict about the surreal nightmare her life became—we had Norman Reedus as a whiny punk MacGyver. Even the fights were mostly excuses to show endless poorly-made CGI sequences that made Spider-Man look gritty and realistic in comparison.

the Hitler Youth as redesigned by Hot Topic

Matt, this made me laugh right out loud.

Here's an explanation of Donnie Darko, incorporating Kelly's additions to the director's cut and the website. It's cool, but I think I like my interpretation more.

both are well done and enjoyable

This is obviously some strange new usage of the words "well done" and "enjoyable" which I was not previously aware of.

I just got back from seeing Maria Full of Grace, which I strongly recommend. It's an odd movie in that I didn't have much to say about it afterwards -- it just is what it is, no nitpicking or rhapsodizing required. But the actress playing Maria is very good, and I was completely engrossed in her story. The film doesn't try to create suspense, but her tension is palpable throughout, and I had no idea how it would end until the very last frame.

Last night I saw La Dolce Vita at Film Forum. I'm glad I got the chance to see it on the big screen, but I really can't recommend the experience of sitting in Film Forum's horrifically uncomfortable seats for three hours to anyone. Being behind someone whose head blocked almost all of the subtitles didn't help either. (And unfortunately, I'll be back for two more incredibly long films sometime this week, because it's the only place that's showing The Corporation and Los Angeles Plays Itself.)

Today I saw Citizen Kane in a theater. People applauded at the end! The movie confirmed for me its excellence and amazingness and what-not....

I'm wondering--how radical of a movie was it when it opened? Had anyone done a non-linear movie like it before? How about a movie told from multiple points of view?

Also, does everyone know where Wells got the word "rosebud" from?

Oh, and I did not know that a certain White Stripes song quotes extensively from the flick.

eta: "The Union Forever" from White Blood Cells.

Did anyone see Ninth Gate? Can you explain it to me?

Did anyone see Ninth Gate?

Yes.

Can you explain it to me?

No.

I don't memember too much about it. It annoyed me, though.

I saw The Ninth Gate and I can't explain it. I decided the director'd finally gone and done too many drugs to tell a coherent story, and that if I get it on DVD I'll file it with the Hammer films.

I saw The Village on Friday night. I liked it.

Really.

I think the advertising campaign may have killed it, or that it's not the kind of movie people want right now. Certainly it wasn't the movie I was led to expect from the ads. What it mainly reminded me of was a Shirley Jackson story, or those speculative fiction stories from the 50s and 60s like "The Veldt." The twist wasn't supposed to shock, I don't think: It was too obvious what was going on. I think that it was fully and clearly revealed at the end so that the viewer would go back and analyze the actions of the people outside of the narrative movement of the story.

If you wanted a Stephen King story, you're out of luck, but if you wanted a thought piece on dealing with everyday horror, it wasn't bad at all.

What it mainly reminded me of was a Shirley Jackson story

When I read the description/spoilers of the movie, that's *exactly* what I thought!