It's definitely one of those movies that either works for you or it doesn't, though I was sort of on the fence about it for a while, but a second viewing drew me into it.

I liked it a LOT better the second time I saw it. There were a lot of details to pick up that you wouldn't have noticed the first time around, I think, where something in the background comes center-stage at a later point. Also, not having to figure out what's going on lets everything sink in a little better.

My biggest problem with the movie was that it basically wound up with a big fight scene - it was a little too conventional for a movie that otherwise kept pulling the rug out from under me.

If I remember right, there's a commentary where one of the writers says the climactic fight is hackneyed. Which, yup. It's a very pretty movie, though. And Kiefer is hilarious.

I do still want to know if the Cat People homage was intentional or all in my head.

My biggest problem with the movie was that it basically wound up with a big fight scene - it was a little too conventional for a movie that otherwise kept pulling the rug out from under me.

I have the same problem with the movie. All that great work and buildup for what could have been the ending to any action movie with a sci-fi bent.

I do still want to know if the Cat People homage was intentional or all in my head.

Homage to which version of Cat People?

Yeah. At least with The Matrix, there was action all the way through.

Casting news for Potter V: [link]

Oh, the original. I'm scared by the idea of an homage to the remake.

Anyway. There's a scene with Kiefer in the bath, and he's splashing about in a paranoid way while Mr. Hand lurks in the darkness. It always reminds me of the scene in Cat People where Alice is in the swimming pool. Which could just be me making weird associations, I dunno.

Hee. From the IMDB:

Craig Blames Nudity on Alcohol

New James Bond Daniel Craig has vowed never to drink alcohol around film directors, because he often finds himself agreeing to outrageous scenes while under the influence. The 37-year-old actor, who stripped down in his 2000 movie Some Voices, blames a heavy boozing session with director Simon Cellan Jones for his gratuitous nudity. Craig says, "The scene was written as me running down the road stripped to the waist covered in tomato juice. But then I got drunk at Simon's and said, 'I'll do it naked!' The lesson is never get drunk with directors."

There's a scene with Kiefer in the bath, and he's splashing about in a paranoid way while Mr. Hand lurks in the darkness. It always reminds me of the scene in Cat People where Alice is in the swimming pool. Which could just be me making weird associations, I dunno.

No, that sounds very Cat People.

I read an interview with Simone Simon recently. She's still alive and rather wicked and kittenish. Which couldn't be more appropriate.

I do still want to know if the Cat People homage was intentional or all in my head.

I figured, but I wanted to be sure.

There's a scene with Kiefer in the bath, and he's splashing about in a paranoid way while Mr. Hand lurks in the darkness. It always reminds me of the scene in Cat People where Alice is in the swimming pool.

Could be weird associations, but I could see it being intentional.

I read an interview with Simone Simon recently. She's still alive and rather wicked and kittenish.

Aw. I really need to get that Val Lewton DVD set. Oooh, Netflix has them now! I win. I particularly love "Curse of the Cat People" because it's so very peculiar.