Or maybe it’s just my iPhone, I don’t know.

Samples we love from movies we love #78

Nas feat Jay-Z - Black Republican (Prague Philharmonic - Marcia Religiosa).

Recalled while rewatching The Godfather II earlier today. Black Republican, from Nas’ Hip-Hop is Dead, noteworthy for being the first post-feud Nas/Jay-Z collaboration.

Bonus! Things you should do #95

I know, I know, I don’t need to remind you… it’s already on your calendar, etc etc, but Zombie Strippers comes out today. Guaranteed to be trash. Take one for the team, tell us how bad it really is.

• Creepy, desolate, old house.
• Being left alone in said creepy, desolate house.
• Creepy disabled/orphaned children.
• Masks or burlap sacks on said children.
• Creepy old woman.
• Creepy contacting the dead scene.
• It’s never daytime.
• Caves. I hate caves.
• Random loud things falling. Who keeps a collection of pipes in a closet??
• Watching the movie in a theater where one can’t take a breather every 30 minutes.

The Orphanage is full of cliches, yet engrossing at the same time. Lesser movies make me groan when these things happen, but I was in suspense the entire time. It doesn’t do anything groundbreaking, but it’s refreshing to see a horror movie these days that isn’t just torture porn.

This is the part where I throw in a plug for The Devil’s Backbone, that movie does not get enough love.

Random reference to another movie: The Wizard of Gore!

Mamet’s essay on aesthetic distance in Bambi vs Godzilla is all I could think about every time the (obvious) miniature of Manderley appears on screen during Rebecca:

An actor portrays a pianist. The actor sits down to play, and the camera moves, without a cut, to his hands, to assure us, the audience, that he is actually playing. The filmmakers, we see, have taken pains to show the viewers that no trickery has occurred, but in so doing, they have taught us only that the actor portraying the part can actually play the piano. This addresses a concern that we did not have. We never wondered if the actor could actually play the piano. We accepted the storyteller’s assurances that the character could play the piano, as we found such acceptance naturally essential to our understanding of the story, but when the camera tilts down to the actor’s actual fingers, we, in effect, experience this:

FILMMAKER - I’m going to tell you a story about a pianist.
AUDIENCE - Oh good: I wonder what happens to her!
FILMMAKER - But first, before I do, I will take pains to reassure you that the actor you see portraying the hero can actually play the piano.

We didn’t care till the filmmaker brought it up, at which point we realized that, rather than being told a story, we were being shown a demonstration. We took off our “audience” hat and put on our “judge” hat. We judged the demonstration conclusive but, in so doing, got yanked right out of the drama. The aesthetic distance had been violated.

Maybe this is a little unfair. It is an old movie and IMDb claims that Selznick was unable to find a suitable location, but what I can’t figure out is if it would have been okay to not show it at all. The grandeur is captured by the interior. Curiously enough, the blue-screened driving scenes don’t bother me at all, as these seem to be somewhat more essential to the story.

A zombie attack can strike quickly and without warning. A single infection can turn into a full blown epidemic in a matter of days. I hope the zombie infection simulator clears any doubt you might have about this. For added readiness, I recommend the zombie survival guide.

dolapo just got back from watching 28 weeks later. He thought the gore, pacing and score were enough to make up for the plot oddities. He was entertained throughout–though he’s pretending it had a better ending.

Another bad PKD movie adaptation? Say it ain’t so.

Trailer spotted before showing of The Lookout.