"Paranormal Activity 3" (Paramount Pictures)
As fun, exciting, and dare I say, as innovative as the first two “Paranormal Activity” films have been, do we really need “Paranormal Activity 3″? I mean, how much more “found footage” can there supposedly be? As a fan of the films, I admired the first effort and liked the low-budget and rather novel approach to telling a modernized version of a ghost story. Shot for $15,000, the film was impressive, entertaining, but never all that scary to me. For the follow up, “Paranormal Activity 2″, which served as a prequel of sorts to the events of the first film, felt like much more of the same until the last 10-15 minutes induced some profanity-laced exclamations on my part. While the film was largely comprised of the same pace, rhythm, and cadence of its predecessor, I admit to being lulled in to a sense of contentment, only to have the rug pulled out from under me.
So while others mocked and groaned at the announcement that “PA3″ was on its way, I penciled in the date of October 21, 2011 and was greatly anticipating where “PA3″ would take me. Even as doubts starting creeping in that “PA3″ would not measure up to the precociousness of the first films, it pleases me greatly to report that to the credit of all involved, and almost completely in spite of itself, “Paranormal Activity 3″ is a fantastic little gem. For my sensibilities, this is the most rewarding entry in the series thus far.
Read more on Paranormal Activity 3 (***½)…
 Wow…just, wow. There’s really not a whole lot more you can say about ‘The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence)’ that matters, as it doesn’t really merit any of the attention that it’s gotten. This is a pointless exercise in a director trying to even the score with the media that claimed his first film was over the line. Writer/director Tom Six was so upset that people assumed that ‘The Human Centipede’ was the most disgusting film ever made upon its release (it’s actually somewhat restrained and a bore) that he decided that this time out he’d give them what they thought they were getting the first time. This might be one of the 10 most perverse and graphic films ever made…but it just doesn’t have a reason to exist besides feeding the ego of Six. It’s just a carnival freak show that dares you to sit through the whole thing. Sadly, the only feeling you’re likely to have after making it all the way through is a sinking feeling that those 90 minutes are never coming back. That, and you might just wonder “why”? Honestly, I don’t have an answer. Consider this review a public service. I saw it so you don’t ever have to. It’s not as bad as ‘A Serbian Film’ (mainly do to this violence having less to do with sex than that atrocity), but it’s a close call.
Read more on The Human Centipede II (Full Sequence) (*)…
 Some studios have made their 2011 Awards or For Your Consideration sites LIVE. They’re up and running and it’s so fun to look at them when considering what films will or will not be on Oscar’s radar. Not everyone is up yet and some aren’t listing categories but it’s good to see the roster that some of these studios have on their hands. Weinstein has a squad this season. Another Weinstein Oscar ceremony? We’ll see. Check em’ out below.
The Weinstein Company:
-The Artist
-Coriolanus
-The Iron Lady
-My Week with Marilyn
-Undefeated
-W.E.
-No categories listed.
20th Century Fox:
-Rio
-Rise of the Planet of the Apes
-No categories listed.
Sony Pictures Classic:
-The Skin I Live In – No categories listed.
Read more on Studio FYC Sites are LIVE…
Categories: Editor, News Tags: anonymous, arthur christmas, Beginners, Cars 2, disney pictures, Editor, focus features, For Your Consideration, fox searchlight, Hanna, Hugo, Jane Eyre, Kung Fu Panda 2, Like Crazy, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Moneyball, movie studio, My Week With Marilyn, news, pariah, pirates of the caribbean, puss in boots, Rango, rio, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Shame, sony pictures, sony pictures classics, Super 8, The Adventures Of Tintin, the artist, The Debt, The Descendants, the girl with the dragon tattoo, The Help, The Ides of March, The Iron Lady, The Tree of Life, the weinstein company, tinker tailor soldier spy, transformers, undefeated, war horse, Warrior, Win Win, Winnie the Pooh, Young Adult
"Martha Marcy May Marlene" (Fox Searchlight)
The next time the suits in Hollywood get together, they should really sit down and have a good long talk about the sort of movies they are making for hundreds of millions of dollars.
SERIOUSLY.
Perhaps they will decide (when hell freezes over) that rather than spending $150 million on the next sequel to something stupid, or film of an old TV show, they might instead hand out $2 million to some aspiring filmmakers, directors, and writers who have made an impressive short or documentary or artists in the music video world. Rather than one terrible film that cost $150 million, we would have seventy-five low budget films, at least half of which would be at the very least watchable, with some of them being very good. The amounts of money wasted on bad movies these days is obscene when we have so many gifted directors and writers trying to get funding for their films to no avail. Not everyone can go the Kevin Smith credit card route (brilliant as it was), and frankly not everyone wants to do that. The studios simply must start looking for stories rather than only what the film is going to make for them. So much emphasis is placed on box office I fear the suits in Hollywood have forgotten what it is they are supposed to be doing.
Read more on Martha Marcy May Marlene (****)…
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