Oscar watch better late than never part 2

HorrorBound continues to watch Oscar films!!

American Sniper

Oh boy, this was boring. Maybe it's because I watched Fury last night and that kind of just blew American Sniper out of the water? Maybe it's because it's soooo AMERICUH! that my eyes crusted over?

People really aggressively hate this movie on the internet. I went looking for a graphic and was smacked in the face by very angry and offended people. And honestly, this is one of those situations I just ignore because it seems very exhausting and we all know war is bad, and not everyone is a terrorist, etc etc obvious shit that people should know, but don't.

It was just the same old shit. The only parts I enjoyed was when Chris was back in America dealing with the traumatic effects of war. But that was barely touched on.
In fact the only time I felt any emotion was during the end credits when I was so relieved it was over. Just kidding. It was the footage from Chris's funeral. Very weepy. Because no matter what you say about Chris Kyle, or this movie, at the end of the day, a life was taken when it shouldn't have been and that's incredibly sad.

Let's just say, the best part of this movie was the fake baby, and that's saying a lot.

Whiplash

Beauty film. Stunning.
A story about a young drummer thirsting to be the next Charlie Parker, and one crazy motherfucker who's going to help him, even if he kills him in the process.
This movie is a rollercoaster of emotions and blood and drive and passion that hasn't been seen for awhile. Ten minutes into the film I could already tell why Simmons won his Oscar for his role as Fletcher.
I don't even know where to put this film, genre wise, it's like some weirdo thriller. All I can think is...Black Swan for drummers?

The ending is just such a significant but subtle twist and the relationship between Simmons and Teller was so phenomenal.

Like...all I can do with this movie is just talk about it in critic quotations:

"stunning"
"magnificent"
"a thrill ride"
etc etc

I will forever aggressively recommend this film.

Up next:
Birdman
Selma
Boyhood

Watching Oscar movies after the Oscars because why not?

HorrorBound watches Oscar movies!

The Oscars were on Sunday and although this year I only saw a few of the movies, mostly by accident, watching the Oscars made me want to watch them all.
So far I had only watched The Grand Budapest Hotel and Into the Woods. (and obviously Winter Soldier, Guardians etc...I'm really just referring to the big movies with the big nominations).
Into the Woods was wonderful and magical and funny and sweet and heart breaking and for about 100 years I will have the prologue song stuck in my head (into the woods without delay but careful not to lose the way, into the woods who knows what may be lurking on the journey?).
The Grand Budapest Hotel was same shit different creek. Sorry Wes, I loved you when I was in art school and wore headbands ironically, but no more. All his movies start to bleed into one. (But I still love the classics).

And that's basically it.

Now it's time to embark on my Oscar journey.

LET'S TALK ABOUT IT

Gone Girl

Last summer I read this book. Everyone kept recommending it, I saw it everywhere I looked. People would go on and on about the huge twist. I was hella ready.
I plowed through it in about four days and have never been so disappointed in a book. The "huge twist", I figured out almost immediately, called Oprah and said wtf, is there something else? orrrr? Apparently there was another shocking twist at the end. Which I reached, dragging myself the entire way, and low and behold....the mind blowing ending twist was just as awful as the first. Sorry Gillian Flynn or whatever your name is, I do not love your writing style.
When I finished the book I came out of my office, so angered by the waste of my time, that I just threw it on the floor and said, someone please take this away from me.

But the movie.....oh boy, that movie though.
The very strange and rare time when the movie is far better than the book because for some reason the director has a better idea of what the author was trying to say, than the author themselves.

I loved this fucking movie. Ooooo the casting was so good. I already want to watch it again. And that sex/murder scene.....flawless.
Gone Girl is hard to talk about because the spoilers are immense. And usually I'm pretty nonchalant about spoilers, but I'll be careful for now since it's pretty new.

Just....I loved it. Go watch it. Don't read it. (and this is the ONLY time you will hear me recommending not to read a book)

And look at this flawless Queen:

Next up was:

Foxcatcher

This film was nominated for quite a few Oscars but didn't really pull through winning wise. I've had it on my watchlist for over a year and I'm happy to finally have had the time to see it. Such a tragic and strange tale of bizarre relationships and loss and family. If you weren't interested in this story previously, I could see it being quite boring? It's very long, very slow, very quiet. But it's really gritty and has the sort of character development you can sink your teeth into. The scenery is nightmarish and dreamy at the same time. And although, if you know the story, you're fully aware of the ending, it still comes as such a shock.
A well done performance by all involved and the physical transformations from all three main actors; Mark Ruffalo, Steve Carell, and Channing Tatum were phenomenal.
This is what a film is, as cheesy as that sounds. The type of film that makes you want to analyze every moment.
And now I've fallen down a rabbit hole of Foxcatcher and the Du Pont family, send help.

Up next?
American Sniper
Whiplash
Birdman





From Dusk Till Dawn

From Dusk 'Till Dawn

Movie vs. TV

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Movie:

1996 horror/comedy about vampires in Mexico and two outlaws who encounter them. Starring a very young George Clooney and Quentin Tarantino, an even younger Juliette Lewis, Salma Hayek and Harvey Keitel. It's a star studded cast, all very young, and enough gore and comedy to make it an instant cult classic. Written by Quentin Tarantino and directed by Robert Rodriquez it should be a match made in heaven.

So why I didn't love it?

The first half of the movie is great - long dialogue scenes so rich you can taste it, morbidly funny moments, subtle gore, and a great story line. But then our two outlaws and their kidnapped family of ex God lovers reach Mexico and enter the famous Titty Twister bar and I lost interest real quick. The vampire lore confuses me, maybe they're zombie vampires? How come some of the people who get bit turn within 5 minutes and others take longer? Why did Quentin's character (arguably the most interesting) die so quick?
The second half of the film just lost me. I had too many questions.
The ending I enjoyed though, leaving it open for our imaginations to run amok as to what the bar really is and why these vampires even exist in the first place.

Don't get me wrong, I didn't hate this film, and I'm not saying it wasn't good. I just think it was one of those cult classics that don't really work unless you watch it while the cult is forming. It's been too long, and I came in completely uneducated on the film, and didn't fall in love.

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TV:

Premiered last year on Netflix as an original series executively produced and directed by Robert Rodriquez with ten episodes.
It's the same story as the film only with more detail and back story and a whole new cast. It gives us viewers a chance to delve deep and really sink our teeth into the mythos of these vampires and figure out what's really wrong with the brothers. So obviously I'm a happy camper and much prefer the show, since it answers all my questions.
Zane Holtz plays Tarantino's character; Richie (and he's from Vancouver woo!). He does an amazing job co-leading this show considering he's never really been a lead before. Alongside him is D.J. Cotrona playing George Clooney's character; Seth. 

Full disclosure; I haven't finished the season yet so I may hate it by the end. But so far so good. It's also been renewed for a second season which I have no understanding as to how they will continue this on, but we'll see.

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my love letter to the Vicious Brothers

The Vicious Brothers are a film making duo from here in Canada and have stolen my heart three times in a row.

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The first was with Grave Encounters. And I am fully aware that most people don't love Grave Encounters and its sequel but you know what I think? That's just cause ya'll got scared shitless. Grave Encounters is one of the top ten movies that scared me SO badly and one of the few horror movies I constantly re-watch.
I first watched it with Oprah during a sleepover many moons ago. Her bf was asleep on the couch and we spent most of the movie whispering about other things. But I remember it being just scary enough that I couldn't wait to properly watch it again. And so I have. Many, many, many times. Like...I'm obsessed.

And the best part about this movie is that it will always scare me because there are so many amazing jump scares that you simply can't remember them all and something will ultimately always catch you off guard.

The premise is simple. You take a ghost hunting team (loosely based on my baes from Ghost Adventures) and put them in an abandoned mental hospital. It's found footage, and shit goes wack. It goes super crazy. And it really fucks with you near the end and you start to feel like you're also trapped inside of this asylum. The first time they break open an emergency exit door only to find another hallway.....words can't even. You just feel a drop in your stomach.

And yeah, this sounds like a lot of other films, and I feel you on that. But there's something about Grave Encounters that keeps it original, and you never feel like oh, here we go again.

Anyway, I love Grave Encounters so much and needless to say this is basically me:

THEN...a year later...GRAVE ENCOUNTERS 2 COMES OUT. And all is right with the world.

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The sequel takes an interesting turn where it starts out with youtube vloggers questioning whether the movie is real or not, and talking smack about the special effects or going, you know what...this movie fucking scared the shit out me (me too vloggers, me too). Our lead in the sequel is a horror film maker who's a student at university. He believes this movie is real after he receives a strange message on youtube (been there my friend) and heads out to prove so. Obviously he ends up at the same asylum with his friends and they fall right into the trap of the hospital.

This one is also found footage but is a lot more fluid than the first. The scary shit goes down almost immediately and as the movie unravels we learn more about the being that possesses this hospital and the ghosts that bring it to life.

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I definitely prefer the first because how can you not? But I love the Grave Encounters franchise so fucking much and will defend it aggressively. My grave stone will basically just say, "Here lies Charlotte, she had some grave encounters".

Also, fun fact: the hospital they filmed at is a 30 minute drive from my house!

HERE'S WHERE IT GETS BETTER

Last year, the Vicious Brothers released Extraterrestrial....A MOTHER FUCKING ALIEN MOVIE YA'LL.

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Because if you know me at all, you know my three loves are aliens, sharks and magicians. When I saw the trailer for the first time I got so rowdy. THERE'S A PROBING SCENE, I screamed to the heavens. And then I threw up in my mouth a little.

Last night I found the time to be able to watch this film and I spent the first half of the film kind of bummed because it wasn't clicking with me. But as the action picked up and the ending rolled around I danced for joy because there it was.....a new and unique alien movie I could love.

Basically a group of 20 somethings go off to their cabin in the woods (it has a bad ass pool, so don't go judging) and witness a crash in the woods, shoot an alien, and now the aliens are out for blood.

Trust me.

It's great.

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And the aliens themselves? Actually pretty scary. Which is weird because if I showed you a picture of what they looked like, they look cheesy, but in the context of the film it never comes off that way...it comes off scary and creepy and holy shit aliens. The spaceship scenes and the alien world were a joy to watch and I wish we could explore more up there. The ending was a little bit obvious but I still thoroughly enjoyed it and there was an amazing X-Files Easter egg that made me cry. #xfiles2015

The probing scene?
I can't.

Grave Encounters is far better and far scarier than Extraterrestrial but you know what? Who fucking cares. All three of these movies are amazing and I'm in love with them. The Vicious Brothers have my undying commitment and even ten years from now when the inevitable Grave Encounters 15 comes out, I'll still be watching. 

And honestly, you should too.

Go follow these fools on twitter