Search

Search only in certain items:

The Ninth Gate (1999)
The Ninth Gate (1999)
1999 | Drama, Mystery
Romania Polanski (3 more)
Johnny Depp
Frank Langella
The Ninth Gate of the Kingdom of Shadows
Admit yourself into the Ninth Gate
I've witnessed this film get some stick but to me, it hits the spot on numerous levels and I can't understand where these people are coming from. Polanski is giving us a mysterious, dark and intriguing piece of work. The film revolves around the subject of a powerful book that for some, is worth more than life itself. The story sends Dean Corso (depp) on an investigation into the dark origins of the book and the once superficial rare book dealer finds a new infatuation other than himself. Great from start to finish with a great performance from all the cast, especially Depp and Frank Langella as Boris Balkan. For me it's a must.
  
Lee’s former step-son, Jeff, comes back to Warner Pier for the noir film festival. He’s anxious to spend some time with Lee, but just a few hours later, he’s vanished. What has happened to him?

The book starts off with a bang and never really lets up until we reach the end. When we do get answers, they just leave us with more questions. The characters are in top notch form, and I think we get to know Lee a bit better over the course of this book. This series is always light and fun, and this book is no exception.

NOTE: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.

Read my full review at <a href="http://carstairsconsiders.blogspot.com/2015/11/book-review-chocolate-falcon-fraud-by.html">Carstairs Considers</a>.
  
40x40

Young Jean Lee recommended Solaris (1972) in Movies (curated)

 
Solaris (1972)
Solaris (1972)
1972 | Sci-Fi

"My favorite Tarkovksy film is Stalker, and it would have been number two on my list if it were part of the Criterion Collection. But Solaris is great, too. Its main characters have no qualities that interest me, and some elements in the film seem purposely absurd. The clumsy pseudo-scientific dialogue, for example, or Kelvin’s ridiculous “futuristic” outfit with its unflattering yellow mesh shirt. And yet somehow I find myself absorbed into the world of these people I don’t want to care about. The images and pacing have a hypnotic effect that causes me to be like, “Oh no, Kelvin feels bad!” even though I don’t like Kelvin. You know that old saying about how a good actor can read the phone book and make it sound interesting? I feel like Tarkovsky could make a compelling film out of the phone book."

Source
  
Evil Dead (2013)
Evil Dead (2013)
2013 | Horror, Mystery
The book of the dead
Contains spoilers, click to show
This remake of the 1981 version is good, but not great. Their is no ash chatcter, expect in the post credit sence which was shoot at the last minute.

Anways, Mia, a drug addict, is determined to kick the habit. To that end, she asks her brother, David, his girlfriend, Natalie and their friends Olivia and Eric to accompany her to their family's remote forest cabin to help her through withdrawal. Eric finds a mysterious Book of the Dead at the cabin and reads aloud from it, awakening an ancient demon. All hell breaks loose when the malevolent entity possesses Mia.

If you take the first letter of each charcters names it spells out demon. Intresting fact.

This film is gory, gory and more gory. I like the oringal film better than this. But this remake is okay.
  
Pet Sematary (2019)
Pet Sematary (2019)
2019 | Horror
Twists on the original keep viewers guessing (1 more)
Visually better
Characters are skeletal with little development (1 more)
Filmmakers add so much it changes the concept of the story
Good if you don't know the source material or the original film.
The keys to a good remake are to not forget the original or the source material, update the story, and hold true to the values of the predecessors. While this remake captures the basic outline of King's novel and the original movie, it also makes several changes. Firstly, it adds several twists to the original plot line, which are excusable to keep viewers guessing and to separate the movie from the original. What frustrates, however, is that the filmmakers added so much. These additions skewed the very deep and visceral meanings and themes of King's book and the original movie. Rather than being a horror-filled contemplation on the complexity of loss and grief, it settled on jump scares, gore, and the creepiness of violent kids and animals. The characters are skeletal at best with no real depth or development in the film. In 2019, when you try to remake things, they have to be great. While this was a decent film if you ignore the book and the previous film, this effort fell far short of anything near great.
  
Annihilation (Southern Reach #1)
Annihilation (Southern Reach #1)
Jeff VanderMeer | 2015 | Fiction & Poetry, Science Fiction/Fantasy
8
7.0 (5 Ratings)
Book Rating
I watched the film of Annihilation ages ago and really liked it. I’ve always meant to read it (and the rest of the series) but just didn’t get round to it. After being offered the 4th book in the series, I panicked and bought the first 3 (like I do). Then I read a review of the 4th book that said I only really needed to read the 1st book to understand what was going on in the 4th. Based on this book (and I’ve since read the 4th - review to follow!), I will probably read the 2nd and 3rd books at some point.

It’s spooky, weird and wonderful - horror at its heart! I loved how this incorporeal being is able to take over humans minds and bodies, driving them mad. Extra-terrestrial or spiritual/ demonic? Who knows, and I hope we don’t find out because it makes it that much more terrifying.

It’s a really tense, frightening book, and I loved it.