Bethany

Norman, Oklahoma, UNITED STATES


Joined March 28th 2008

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Recent Posts

The Ring (and my first date)

October 1st 2008 01:14
We were supposed to go catch this special anime show that had come through the movie theater, but on the night we decided to go, it was out.

He was taller than me, black. His name was Michael, we were in chemistry together. We looked at each other, looked at the movies that were available, and the one that was coming on soon was The Ring. He bought the tickets (I'm pretty sure) and we went and sat down.

I loved the music, and it was the first thing I really noticed. I thought the way the movie was shot was really beautiful, and I was genuinely creeped out.

The movie starts with two girls, Katie and Becca, being teenage girls. Gossiping, talking about a fun weekend, and discussing a video- a video that when you watch it, you have seven days to live. Katie reveals that she's seen this movie, nearly seven days ago.

Unsurprisingly, she is killed.

Cue Rachel Kellar and her son, Aidan. Katie was Rachel's niece, and Rachel (a reporter) begins to look into it. She watches the tape and gets the inevitable creepy phone call, but so does Aidan's father (her ex) and Aidan himself. That's when things become intense.

Rachel scrambles to find out who made the tape and how to prevent her son from dying.

It's really a very simple plot device, probably based off of those 'pass this on to ten people in two days or you die' chain letter you get in your inbox.

At the time I found the movie moody, and driving home I was checking my rearview mirror. I was also thankful that I didn't sleep in a room with a television.

I've watched it several times since, and it still holds up as a pretty damned scary movie. The scene, the one everyone talks about, where Samara crawls out of the television set- if I think about it too much, I get wigged.

I think it was a good movie, and it's a good kick off for my favorite month of the year.
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Bangkok Dangerous

September 26th 2008 01:57
Oh, this movie started out so well.

Bangkok Dangerous is a movie about an assassin who does everything by the rules, leaving no trace (except he has a bad habit of not wearing gloves whilst handling weapons, which means he's leaving fingerprints behind) and caring about nobody.

The movie starts off pretty good, with Joe laying waste to several people. I sort of was under the impression that it was going to be a cool action movie.

Er, no. It kind of is. I mean.. well, yes and no.

I was really undecided about this movie, and this was a movie where there was too much story, I think. My biggest nit-pick is that Joe has a bit of a romance with a Thai deaf-mute whose name means 'rain'. This could work, if the lead actor could act. But Nicholas Cage has two or three different faces, and they probably all have names.

It kind of creeped me out, there was no meaningful communication between Joe and his romantic interest. There actually doesn't seem to be anything in common- there was no chemistry, and that's SUPER important when the romantic interest does not speak.

There was an interesting dynamic between Joe and his errand boy Kong, who eventually sort of becomes his student. But this dynamic doesn't get leaned upon, and that's a crying shame.

There's no real tangible point to the movie, it starts and goes nowhere fast. Save your money, stay in and put on one of your favorites.
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Mr. & Mrs. Smith

September 24th 2008 17:11
I am currently combing my shelves and I really wanted to talk about this movie before October really gets here. Anybody who reads regularly knows I have a thing for horror, and although I'm trying to get away from that a little bit... when October comes, I'm probably gonna do a lot of horror. Halloween is my favorite time of year.

Mr. & Mrs. Smith is a movie about a couple, John and Jane Smith (it'd only be better if they were named Doe), who are having marriage problems. John Smith is played by Brad Pitt, and Jane played by Angelina. They're both bored, and the marriage is definitely on the rocks. Part of it is because secretly, they're both well-paid assassins.

And interestingly, this was something that was very obvious. There was no plot twist, and if you watched the trailers then you knew what this movie was gonna be about. Mostly, kicking face.

This movie is more a comedy, with constant back and forth between John, Jane and sometimes John and Eddie (a lonely Momma's Boy and fellow assassin played by Vince Vaughn).

I'm kind of interested in what they did with Angelina's make up, because while she was gorgeous, there were moments where she looked distinctly unlike herself. Interesting.

There's action, including an S&M laced fight scene between John and Jane (with the song "Express Yourself" in the background, I found that amusing). There's several explosions, lots of guns, but mostly the film is about a couple. It's amusing, entertaining, and has enough action to satisfy.
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I've been tossing around whether or not I should talk about this for a while now, because I like this trilogy. Really I do. But I kind of... don't. It's tricky. So I plan to ramble for a while.

Because I don't want to be a spoil-sport, I'm discussing the whole trilogy including pertinent plot points. If you still haven't seen them, then you want to avoid this


[ Click here to read more ]
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xXx and other Vin Diesel Movies

September 17th 2008 18:02
I know it gets a lot of flack, but I find this movie... entertaining. It's nor more/less lame than any of the older Bond movies (in fact, that's the point). Same cheesy and impossible action sequences, a plot that doesn't make much sense on reflection, really bad bad-guys, sexy co-star (Asia Argento!)... I don't think it's a good movie, mind, just entertaining.

Of course, I feel the same about Die Another Day


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A Phantom Birthday Quickie

September 14th 2008 02:37
So, part of my early birthday present was to go out and buy some cheap movies. One was XXX (the Vin Diesel movie), we bought The Grudge, Resovoir Dogs, and Phantom of the Opera.

I watched Andrew Lloyd Webber's Phantom of the Opera last night. When I finished, I started it over, and was up until 2 in the morning re-watching Phantom


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The Forbidden Kingdom: Not What I Thought

September 13th 2008 01:21
This movie just came out on DVD here (Tuesday, as a matter of fact) and we watched it. My boyfriend picked it up and we sat down and watched it- and maybe I missed this in the trailer, but we sat down expecting... something else. I guess we thought it was some kind of martial arts epic.

Michael Angarino stars as Jason Tripitikas, a dorky skinny white dude who's way into old Kung Fu movies. He goes to an old pawn shop run by Old Hop (Jackie Chan in make-up). While he's in the middle of getting his scrawny white ass roundly beaten by the gang of larger 'mean boys', he's knocked off a building... and into feudal Japan. Or something- I guess maybe it's the Forbidden Kingdom, it kind of reminded me of the Celestial Bureaucracy in the video game Jade Empire, if you've played that you probably get what I mean


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The very first review I did to for Orble was to talk about one of my favorite movies ever, The Princess Bride. Since then, I've been meaning to hit up a few other movies that I watched as a kid. I watched the Princess Bride often enough that I have it memorized. The same goes for another childhood favorite, Labyrinth.

Directed by Jim Henson, Labyrinth is a coming-of-age tale set around Sarah, a spoiled teenager who lives with her mother, step-father, and half-brother. The movie opens in the park, where Sarah is reciting lines from a favorite play- until she gets to the one that she always forgets. Sarah is played by a young Jennifer Connelly


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El Orfanato (The Orphanage) (LINK)

August 22nd 2008 23:10
Produced by Guillermo del Toro and directed by Juan Antonio Bayona, this Spanish flick tells an atmospheric and chilly story.

Laura, her husband Carlos, and her child Simón move to the orphanage where Laura spent her childhood. Laura has the intent of re-opening the orphanage as a small group home for special children, and has the place re-vamped with this goal in mind


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I've been slowly trying to make my way through the Masters of Horror series, and I had this one recommended to me by a friend of mine. I decided to wait to watch it until after I'd read the Lovecraft story by the same name, in order to have a good comparison.

This short (52 minute) movie is about Walter Gilman, a college student played by Ezra Godden, who moves into a room in an inexpensive and old creepy house. His room has an odd corner in it, being so close to the attic, and he's working on a string theory about a way angles can lead from one 'membrane' to another. Chelah Horsdal plays his next-door-neighbor Frances, who also has an infant named Danny


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Recent Comments

Comment by Bethany
on Hey Jude, Hey Holmes

September 25th 2008 01:14
Kung-Fu Holmes?

*sigh*

Comment by Bethany
on xXx and other Vin Diesel Movies

September 18th 2008 05:14
Hey, John- that works.

My fondness for him is totally a guilty pleasure, and I won't even defend it as anything but. I just thought his career dip was kinda interesting.

I think he's a one trick pony, but I like watching him run his paces anyway- if that makes sense.

First of all... Howling 3: The MARSUPIALS? Really? I mean, that was a joke... right? Because the only thing less terrifying than the word marsupial is... I dunno, that's like Howling 3: the killer panda bears. Although I shouldn't laugh, I'm pretty sure there was a B-grade horror movie about shrews becoming giant and eating a town or something...


Er, anyway, I like a well-done discussion of any genre, so I'll have to catch this one. Also, I need to go buy a copy of Mad Max, I haven't seen that in AGES.

I'm probably part of the younger generation you're talking about, Bryn (an American of that generation, probably the worst of the breed) but not all of us are part of the cult of 'gotta have it now'. I'm perfectly content with the original Alien, (as well as it's sequels). If someone could recreate the feel of Alien with another movie- a spiritual remake, if you will- that'd be awesome.

If someone could take the original concept and feel and take it to the next level- superb.

But they'll do a slick remake and make lots of money off of it and the best you can hope for is that kids who are unenlightened through no fault of their own will go look for the version that doesn't suck.

Perversely, I'm looking forward to the Barbarella remake. I don't know if Rodriguez can pull it off, but I think he has a good shot at it. I've heard Rose McGowan was cast as the eponimous Barbarella... so it still could go either way. I guess we'll just have to see on that one.

EDITED: for clarification because I'm still a little drunk

Why not just re-release it in theaters? I think they should do that with all of the really major movies every decade or so. Jaws, the original Star Wars trilogy, ooh, the Matrix! Movies that really can use the big screen to it's fullest. Stuff people missed the first time through (the original Indy trilogy anyone?). That way when hollywood wants to flog it's dead horses, all they have to do is resurrect them instead of desecrate them...

Comment by Bethany
on Black Christmas (2006)

September 13th 2008 23:58
you must have caught the cold I had two weeks ago... through the internet. Somehow. I'm sure. Hope it's better now.

I have heard, and agree to an extent, that this movie did so poorly due to the season it came out in. I need to catch this flick, keep meaning to.

Comment by Bethany
on El Orfanato (The Orphanage)

August 28th 2008 06:53
Heh yes, I know what you mean. I actually didn't even think about it until you mentioned it, honestly- normally that would have really stood out at me too. Funny how a good movie can really suck you in like that...

Comment by Bethany
on El Orfanato (The Orphanage)

August 27th 2008 09:51
if the cellar were dry and cool, his body might have been fairly well preserved. stranger things have happened, and it was probably well sealed because the other little boy lived down there- so dry and cool isn't a bad bet. It can be a quibble, but I also don't think it's much of a stretch, either...

Comment by Bethany
on [REC]

August 27th 2008 02:49
Yeah, I have actually. I recently did a review on it, then I realized you'd already done one (much better than mine) after I posted it and felt like a dumbass- not the first time I've done that, but still...

I used to live in Texas, and through classes and exposure I've learned a bit of Spanish. I can converse well enough to get a point across in a tourist sense, I think. But I also understand a lot more than I actually speak.

Comment by Bethany
on [REC]

August 27th 2008 00:33
You know, my list of movies I need to see isn't getting any shorter and you're *really* not helping, Bryn.

Good find, I'll have to check this one out soon. I am finding a growing fondness for Spanish horror- it helps that I half-understand the language.