All About Women (2008)

From director and co-writer Hark Tsui comes All About Women (Nu ren bu huai), a romantic comedy about the modern love of three very different women. The first of the three we meet is Ou Fanfan (Xun Zhou), an introvert scientist who has trouble attracting men. Second comes Tang Lu (Kitty Zhang Yuqi), a cold-hearted yet highly attractive business woman more concerned with her company's growth than choosing a mate. And lastly is Tie Ling (Lunmei Kwai), a free spirited yet tough writer/musician/boxer who has delusions of an imaginary pop star boyfriend.

Now while each character is intriguing enough on their own, where they intertwine is when the film really starts getting interesting. The main theme of the story is attraction, which is the scientific obsession of one Fanfan who develops a pheromone patch that can attract any man. This attracts Tang Lu who has the ambition to market it, and Tie Ling is tied in through a secondary character.

The first thing I noticed about the film was the credit sequence which was very well choreographed and designed, and this sort of choreography followed throughout the film, especially with Fanfan. Secondly, the movie is extremely comedic and fun to watch. And third, the music is amazingly catchy, and leads the film along in most cases. Now on the fault side, the story becomes convoluted towards the climax when all the women meet head-to-head. For they all have their own agendas and eccentricities and a lot of action and important information gets lost in the mix. And this is yet another film with multiple endings. You think you've finished the story and they tack on two more. Even while the credits roll, the story is still going. This lack of a satisfying and ultimate ending hurt my overall feeling for the film and it left me in need of closure.

IMDB
Flixster

Creatures (9/30/03)

Slithering across
The cursed ground
The blackened moss
Comes without a sound.

Legs upon legs
Eyes not open
Maybe strange
Maybe hidden.

Red death
Feeds on mortals
Go to bed
To become immortal.

Hanging demon
Beneath
Don't point your gun
Underneath.

Knife in hand
Stay away
She moves in darkness
Ready for melee.

Trapped within a box
Tortured
Locked up
Time for murder.

A rotten mass
Squelching past
Something crass
Melting.

Ultimate horror
Trapped as well
Do you adore her?
Send her to Hell.

Silent Hell (9/30/03)

Silent Hell
In the mist beyond
What it is I cannot tell
But with this place I feel a bond.

Sound of evil
Within my mind
I am so scared
Of what I might find.

Night becomes instant
Fear becomes infinite
Answers remain distant
While curiosity remains dominant.

Foul creatures march
Within this cruel town
I am afraid my heart
Will be hunted down.

Trapped within these walls of mist
I enter the halls of rancid despair
The lair of demons and devils
Decorated with the scent of terror.

I hunt down my secret objective
In this maze of guilty truth
Answers to my questions are selective
Why, why am I such a fool?

I push away any who offer aid
I destroy opportunity for relation
Deserving of punishment I am
Push me down the pit, Satan!

I pray for red death
I fall endlessly into the abyss
I confess! I confess!
I killed my chance at happiness.

I see no other exit
But my own demise
I am hidden within a revolting disguise
Of lies, lies, lies!

I find a nostalgic place
Atop a staircase of fire
In the corner I see a face
The one who I love and admire.

She stands on a heightened ledge
Staring at me with red eyes
She jumps without a mention
Is this meant to traumatize?!

I am not in time
She drains into my madness
I feel a presence at my hind
Something ready to devour my sadness.

A dealer of death stands before me
Great blade in hand
His other pulls me to my feet
The blade swings before I am free.

Silent Heaven
In the darkness below
I am punished
Ready to serve thy holy one.

Walled In (2009)

The initial premise for this movie is what made me watch it in the first place, not Mischa Barton, who, while watching the film, I just couldn't put my finger on where I had seen her until I looked her up. The OC of course, a show I've never seen nor desire to. The premise reminded me a bit of Tobe Hooper's Toolbox Murders (2003) which I have a slight fondness for so I tried this one out, and I'm sorry I ever did. For an hour and a half movie, it moved extremely slow, the acting was atrocious and laughable, even Deborah Kara Unger's performance surprised me as being sub-par. The story is filled with plot holes which make the film hard to watch and understand. The film is filled with cliche including the sometimes creepy, but here just annoying, whispering young ghost girl voice. I do not recommend this film to anyone, even fans of The OC.

Trailer
IMDB

The Brothers Bloom (2008)

A tall tale starring Adrien Brody as a conflicted con man and Mark Ruffalo as his manipulative older brother. The film also stars Rachel Weisz as the beautiful yet naive mark and Rinko Kikuchi as the mysterious Bang Bang, demolitions expert. The story is beautifully written by the director Rian Johnson who lays out a crime (or con) caper where in the end everyone gets what they want. Since the main characters are con artists, I questioned everything as it might be part of some double cross, and while hard to decipher at times, it was a lot of fun. It's the kind of movie you want to watch again. There are many things done well, but to name a few they would be cinematography (Steve Yedlin), soundtrack, casting, etc, etc. I immensely enjoyed the playfulness and eccentricity of the characters, though I felt Bang Bang was a bit too apparent for my tastes, but maybe that was her part to play. I've been a fan of Rian Johnson ever since his editor work on May and it was nice to see some familiar names and faces in the mix such as Nora Zehetner (as Rose), EPK director Kevin Ford, and two nice 'thank you' credits for Lucky Mckee and Angela Bettis.

Trailer
IMDB

Quarantine (2008)

Now, being a fan of the original Spanish film [REC], I compared everything to it. First of all, the movie is not a complete shot-for-shot remake, there are some different scenes here and there that are quite nice, but it doesn't make up for the rest of the film. Also the film feels slow compared to [REC] and this is because of the editing. They linger too long when they should be cutting. Another thing I didn't like was the darkness. This made it feel like they were in some cheap haunted house, it didn't add to the scares, it just made it harder to see. Now, I loved Jennifer Carpenter in The Exorcism of Emily Rose, but in this film she fails. She plays the character too weak and whiny. The original actress of Manuela Velasco played it so strong that she could hold her own against the male actors. And the ending scene of the original is probably one of the scariest and creepiest things in horror film history, but in Quarantine it is rushed and third-rate. Anyone planning on seeing Quarantine should just see [REC] and forget about this movie.

Trailer
IMDB

The Alphabet Killer (2008)

I'm a fan of most serial killer films and having not heard of The Alphabet Killings, I was intrigued. The film was well played out through the first half but I felt it failed more and more as it went on. And the ending was a bit abrupt and strange to me. The acting was the best part as Eliza Dushku was great in this for she played a crazy woman extremely well and Cary Elwes and Timothy Hutton were a great supporting cast. Another thing I liked was the creepiness factor from the film. There were times when I would get chills from certain scenes. And there seems to be a major gripe for some who have seen the film. This is that the factual killings took place in the early 70s and the film blatantly uses recent technology such as cell phones and laptops in the movie, but the film never states that it takes place in the 70s, it's merely based on the killings, it is not a period piece.

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IMDB

Midnight (1982)

A strange flick from co-writer of Night of the Living Dead, John A. Russo, about a group of Satanists who plan on sacrificing three young women on Easter Sunday. Even though it was filmed in 1982, the film still feels like it was made in the 70s with meaningless montages of characters walking through the woods, driving around, and playing frisbee while the same song plays over and over again. The pace and direction were terrible. For most of the film I had no clue what the plot even was or if there was some point to the whole matter. Acting is dismal while the dialogue is over explained and runs on far too long. The only real plus were the special effects done by master Tom Savini.

Trailer
IMDB