I really liked Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

It was beautifully Burtonesque, with everything that implies. I also like Depp's Wonka, because he was so incredibly weird. The only problem I had with the movie, really, was that the pacing seemed off in places, long scenes in which very little happened, but that sort of thing often added to the dreaminess of the scene.

I'm not sure it holds together as a film quite as well as Willy Wonka, but it's definitely a bit creepier on the whole (though it doesn't have any moments as heartwrenchingly scary as that movie's boat ride) with some moments of absolutely brilliant, off-the-wall humor that come out of nowhere and surprise you. It's a fun ride.

And this description is really bad, for which I apologize, but the movie was very different from what I expected, so I'm having a hard time explaining it. I suggest trying it if you like the pretty, though.

My triple feature of so-bad-they're-good movies would be Plan 9, Zardoz, and The Apple.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes just gets no respect any more, does it?

Obviously, it's getting too much.

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes just gets no respect any more, does it?

If I were doing a marathon instead of a triple-feature, both Attack and Return of the Killer Tomatoes would get their fare share of screen time, fear not.

I finally saw Sin City last night, and I gotta say -- Frank Miller has got ISSUES, baby. (Though this is, perhaps, not a revelation about him.)

When your audience gets inured to castration scenes, maybe you need to dial them back, yo. And here's the weird thing -- I found the graphic novels to be utterly disturbing in their level of violence, and that's part of why I had decided not to see the movie -- I figured that seeing all that violence in live-action would just be too, too much for me. However, seeing those same scenes in live-action just took them right over the top into utter, utter absurdity. I ended up snickering/giggling/donkey laughing through most of it.

Tep, my mom gets squicked by movie violence and she enjoyed the movie and did a fair share of giggling herself. Hey, now that you've seen it, you know who Clive Owen is!

You can't have him, though.

Too bad Ewan and Christian and Jonathan were all so damned ugly and undesirable.

I have to admit—and being a Balehead I do not say this lightly—that a great deal of the first duo's appeal was dispelled by the FUGLY hair they had in the part of the story where they were involved. During the 80's era footage I found myself mentally urging Arthur "Bone him again! You're smoking hot now!" (Strangely, the Glam rocker hair worked for Meyers.)

In other Christian Bale news, his voice (along with Lauren Bacall's) in Howl's Moving Castle has done much to erode my stance against English dubbing rather than subtitles. The movie was also visually arresting. Though either there were translation problems or a lot of it made no sense at all.

I think Tommy and Strega are dead-on correct: Plan 9 is goofy good fun. Manos is only painful.

The pain is somewhat muted if you've ever joined a conga line of dancing Torgos.

tommyrot "Buffista Movies 4: Straight to Video" Jul 15, 2005 6:29:40 pm PDT

That's odd, I thought it'd been in the public domain for ages, hence the reason for some many dvd versions being available.

In case anyone hadn't noticed, archive.org also has the original Night of the Living Dead available for download. It too is in the public domain apparently.

A friend sent me the "UK Revokes US Independence" essay from John Cleese, and this bit made me laugh and think of the recent Brits Are Bad Guys discussion:

Hollywood will be required occasionally to cast English actors as good guys. Hollywood will also be required to cast English actors to play English characters. Watching Andie MacDowell attempt English dialogue in Four Weddings and a Funeral was an experience akin to having one's ears removed with a cheese grater.

Though either there were translation problems or a lot of it made no sense at all.

I've read that the English translation makes a lot less sense than the Japanese version. For example, the whole subplot about the scarecrow being the missing prince whose disappearance is the cause of the war felt like it came out of nowhere in the English version, but apparently was much clearer in the Japanese.