I had never wanted Benedict to do this film in the first place and always felt Tom would be a good substitute...so glad to hear that he is!

Cool!  Been really wondering about that one, since it came up on here.  Not being the horror type At All, but dramatically visual suspense and the more gothic horror feels interesting.  Just hoping I find it a nice balance, as heard a couple comments about it being one of those with an average story and above-average visuals.  Not that those are bad... I loved how del Toro's Labyrinth and Pacific Rim looked... he always gets so beautifully lavish!  But since we so rarely go to the theater, and being October and all, mom wants me to see a 'scary movie' with her at the end of the week. 

Speaking of amazing visuals, though!  Finally, luckily, caught The Martian on the big screen last week, too!  Hadn't read the book, but heard so many raves about how well researched and intense... and it was.  Recommend if you love sci-fi that could possibly happen!  Matt Damon is really good in it, as other fan-favorites Chiwetel and Sean Bean.  Although I was kicking myself just a tiny bit... was so cool to hear from someone else here that Jonathan Aris showed up briefly, and I totally missed him somehow (maybe it was when I had to step out for a second)!  Wish I knew when exactly to look for him if should watch again.
But as far as nearly-solo-character survival type films go, it was incredibly well realised and gripping… like Cast Away, on Mars.

I´m really torn if I should go and see it.. I normally don´t watch horror movies, but am a total sucker for del Toro´s visual style.. it looks gorgeous! But I can only stomach a certain amount of sick and yucky.. what would you guys say, does it get much worse than the trailer? I was already sufficiently scared by that.. ^^

We went yesterday with my daughter, who recently developed quite a crush on TH. The visual style is indeed gorgeous, the costumes are beautiful and all the actors really handsome, but the film itself was a disappointment (or may be not? I didn't really expect it to be something exceptional). I am really glad B. left the project. It is certainly "watchable" and entertaining to a degree, but on the whole very mediocre film. It has two major problems: the plot, which feels like a poor cousin to Rebecca or Jane Eyre and, even worse, not being sure what kind of film it wants to be. It is not a romance, because it lacks chemistry between the characters, it is not a horror story, because the ghosts are ultimately purely ornamental and have no real meaning (not to say that CGE are second rate so they are rather ridiculous than scary) and it is not a psychological thriller (this would be the best line to follow, if they decided what they really wanted with it). I like all the main actors and they did what they could, but they had some cringeworthy lines of dialogue. Still, TH looks gorgeous in victorian garb and the costumes and sets  were superb.

Zatoichi wrote:

I´m really torn if I should go and see it.. I normally don´t watch horror movies, but am a total sucker for del Toro´s visual style.. it looks gorgeous! But I can only stomach a certain amount of sick and yucky.. what would you guys say, does it get much worse than the trailer? I was already sufficiently scared by that.. ^^

 
His style is gorgeous as usual!  But are you familiar with, then, his Pan's Labyrinth?  Because I was unnerved by some stuff in there, and oddly still found the movie fascinating, and this one is pretty similar on scale of creepy imagery.  Not modern gory horror… don't like that either… but unnerving gothic horror.  There's more of the creepy ghost stuff and the young girl being terrorized, sure, but again, kinda on par with Pan's… just one or two times, like with that movie, that I glanced away for a second.  And yeah, a gorgeous Tom  ;)   although kinda agree with miriel's comment about it's 'genre'.

Saw another wonderful movie last night -The Station Agent.

Made in 2003 it garnered a bit of limited attention on the film festival circuit and certainly earned back it's $500,000 budget and more (final tally in BO was just over $8.6 million USD both domestically and internationally) in limited release.  It also got some pretty lovely reviews, a big bucket full of award wins (including a BAFTA for Best Original Screenplay) and is still highly thought of on Rotten Tomatoes and Meta Critic.

Has anyone else seen this movie?

I highly recommend it.  It is a very small in scope but big in heart comedy/drama starring Peter Dinklage (this is my first time seeing him act but I understand he is very popular in a show called Game of Thrones), (as the protagonist) and supported by the fabulous Patricia Clarkson (one of my favourite actresses), Bobby Cannavale (who I saw for the first time in Blue Jasmine) and to a smaller degree Michelle Wiliiams (who was the very best thing about My Week with Marilyn) and Raven Goodwin.  mention has to be made of the writing and directing of Thomas McCarthy - this was his debut film and he has proven that he is definitely not a one hit wonder, going on to direct/and or write other well received films like The Visitor, Up, Win,Win and most recently Spotlight.

James Christopher of The Times summed up the movie better than I could ever do when he stated, "The brilliance of Peter Dinklage's performance as the ironclad loner is that he doesn’t much care. Yet there’s something deeply affecting about his stoicism and suspicion that has nothing to do with artificial sweeteners, Disney sentiment, or party political broadcasts on behalf of dwarfs. Dinklage just gets on with his performance like an actor who can't understand why he's got the lead role. It's this tension between the film and the unwilling Romeo that makes The Station Agent such a hypnotic watch."

And hypnotic is it.  You just can't help but stay eyes (and mind) glued to the screen watching the story unfold. Dinklage is excellent and actually holds the whole story together, but Clarkson is just as strong in her scenes.  She is a remarkable actress and does so much with a quiet look that it can often blow other actors off the screen.  I remember seeing Clarkson for the first time in a small guesting role in Frasier in about 2001 and being completely mesmerized by her voice and acting.  She always seemed so completely in command of her characters even in very small roles. 

This movie is very much a character study that involves a lot of thinking humour, but also a lot of tension.  It isn't sentimental in the least and treats the audience in a very realistic, adult fashion and yet still maintains total quirkiness and originality.  Really a remarkable film IMO.

-Val

Just coming back from Doctor Frankenstein .. how chocked I was to see Andrew Scott and Louise Brealey !

I had no idea they were in that film!

Isn't Mark Gatiss in Victor Frankenstein as well (and Paul McGuigan directed it too, so the Sherlock connection runs even deeper).

The movie hasn't been well received (either rightly or wrongly) so if you want to see it at the cinema I wouldn't delay.  It had a near disastrous opening BO especially considering it's rather hefty $40 million budget. I, personally, don't judge a film's quality solely by its box office, nor even by its reviews necessarily, so I will reserve my assessment of it until after I have seen it.  I will say I wasn't exactly intrigued with the dialogue that I saw in the short clip on The Graham Norton Show, but the look of the film was gorgeous!

-Val

Excited to be going to see Mockingjay Part II today.