I make my living from writing post apocalyptic books, for the most part. I also write a little sci-fi, but zombies are my bread and butter.
I met Josh Mallerman, author of Bird Box, 4 or 5 years ago at World Horror Con. His publisher gave away copies of his book, so I read this a while back.
Is your stuff on Amazon? I think you’re allowed to pimp your work, we’ll totally read it. As long as you’re not Brian Keene, I really don’t like his books.
Since you read the book, how did you feel after seeing the movie? I appreciate a good post apocalyptic book, hell, we’ve had a few threads on it and it padded my reading list for years afterward.
I’m betting I would would have enjoyed the book a lot more. The movie wasn’t bad, I enjoyed it, but some of the direction did bother me and I’m wondering how much liberty was taken for the screenplay.
I made it about 5 minutes into something called Occupation, mainly because I saw it had Stephanie Jacobsen (from BSG Razor) in it. It is not good. Move along.
Roma is really quite wonderful, and unexpectedly understated/nuanced, given Curaon’s previous.
There are some brilliant scenes that the director pulled off in this film, which makes it worth watching alone. In particular, the protest scene, stillbirth scene, and almost-drowning scene were crafted masterfully. Nevertheless, in my view the overall story is overrated.
That goes to my understated point. The story is, on one level, just a bunch of stuff that happened. It’s a slice of life. But the way he weaves his themes through that stuff, without being overbearing like Gravity, is masterful. And that’s without even getting to the cinematography or the staging.
Wow I’m surprised to hear you say that. I found a number of plot whole in A quiet place, and while some existed here, they were not so glaring in my mind. I also enjoyed seeing flashbacks on how the world ended and how that tied to the current situation. The thing I ended up not liking about Bird Box, was that I was tense the WHOLE time! about 2/3 the way through I was READY for it to fall apart because I was so tense during the ENTIRE movie! I didn’t expect the payoff we got, though I was half expecting a Rick grimes character at the end lol
I originally groaned about using gps to drive blind, but the car sensors added a unexpected level of tension and a usage I had not even considered. Several moments were like this, when the story did way more than I expected, but then again it was a Netflix movie and I wasn’t expecting much…
In the end I think I liked it more than A Quiet Place
Jake Gyllenhaal’s collaborated with his Nightcrawler director, Dan Gilroy, again for the Netflix film Velvet Buzzsaw, which is releasing on the 1st February. The cast boasts John Malkovich and Toni Collette, so it’s going be a day one for me even though I hated Gilroy’s last film, the dreadful Denzel Washington vehicle Roman J. Israel, Esq. Check out the trailer below:
Hell yea, just noticed Jasox X is on Netflix. It’s the best Friday the 13th movie, and a ton of fun. Best kill in the series too.
Had a great time seeing this in the theater with my wife back in 2001.
Also, according to this movie, hockey will be outlawed five years from now. Enjoy it while you can.
Has anyone watched Velvet Buzzsaw yet? We’re 76 minutes in (currently pacifying a child) and this is a haunted painting(s) horror movie in the style of Final Destination? I thought this was going to be an intense character study of Jake Gyllenhaal playing another LA weirdo (I didn’t watch the trailer.) Please tell me this is building up to a meta joke or something at the end.
Sorry to say, but the trailer was pretty explicit that it was a horror movie. Maybe watch the trailer first?
I just watched As Above So Below, a little found-footage horror movie about some folks exploring the Paris catacombs looking for the Philosopher’s Stone. It was pretty neat. Nothing groundbreaking, and perhaps it got a little too over-the-top by the end, but some escalating creepiness and weirdness, and a few good scares. Might make some nauseous with all the head-cams, though.
No need to apologize. My fault for going in cold but with preconceptions. My wife pointed out several signs I missed because I was fixated on it being more of a character study. Since I posted that, I made my peace with it and we finished the last 30 minutes tonight and enjoyed discussing it.
I can dig. It looks up my alley, I’ll probably watch it in the next day or two.
Yes, recommended as well. One of the best “found footage” films out there, IMO. I liked how utterly bonkers it got as it went along, and definitely appreciated some of the elements borrowed from The Descent. It also benefited from featuring a couple of recognizable actors that helped elevate the material, and the characters were actually compelling for once-- even the Lara Croftish protagonist, who starts out mildly annoying but gets better as she slowly realizes how in over her head she’s got. The movie does deflate a bit toward the very end but I loved that it didn’t have the standard found footage ending, which typically removes much of the tension from all these movies.
Disclaimer: I’ll watch pretty much any found footage flick I can find.
Just watched High Flying Bird by Steven Soderbergh and really, really enjoyed it. Excellent take on a “sports” movie by him. Quick back and forth dialogue, fantastic performances, and works interestingly on a meta level. Soderbergh does a lot of experimenting, and when he nails something he really nails it. Highly recommend.
I watched about half of it and it didn’t stick with me. I could appreciate what Soderbergh brings to the table but it didn’t draw me in. Reminded me of the little I’ve seen of the HBO show Ballers.
I’m a big basketball fan, so definitely in the target audience! I can see how it could have trouble landing for others.
I wasn’t enjoying it after about 15 minutes, so I watched the last 20 minutes, then went back and watched the whole thing and it was a much better experience with that context. I watched the trailer after all that and I think the end of the movie is a better way to preview the movie than the trailer.