I've been replaying Apollo Justice lately ... and I have to say that I don't like the second and third cases that much. Well, I guess the third case is kind of clever in how it is built, but I can't really get into it that much anymore. The second case is just eh. I never liked it that much, even when I first played the game.
Black Christmas (1974): Black Christmas is a well-made, messed up movie. It is basically the originator of modern slasher flicks (having come out four years before Halloween), and in some ways it goes much further than any other slasher movies would dare to go. Not in terms of gore, mind; Black Christmas is a surprisingly bloodless movie. Where it's really creepy is that it thrusts the viewer into the perspective of the mindless killer during his scenes, shuffling around the sorority house where he offs his victims one-by-one, breathing heavily and muttering to himself.
Couple of other things: Black Christmas has a totally oddball cast -- Margot Kidder (would go on to play Lois Lane in the Superman movies; here, she's a hard-drinking, swearing, smoking sorority sister), Olivia Hussey, Keir Dullea (David Bowman from 2001: A Space Odyssey) and John Saxon. Second, the director, Bob Clark, would go on to direct A Christmas Story, which as I am sure many of you know is the opposite of this movie in just about every way.
Crazy Heart (2009): Jeff Bridges was certainly deserving of his Best Actor Oscar win, even if the rest of the movie doesn't quite get above being more than the basics of its story. Bridges does a pretty great job, however, of making a real character out of Bad Blake, a past-his-prime, alcoholic former country music star who is desperately trying to form some semblance of a career again. Maggie Gyllenhaal is also pretty good as a reporter who falls for Blake while writing about him, even as every red alarm in her mind warns her against it. And who in the hell ever thought that Colin Farrell of all people would make a decent country singer??
The Man with Two Brains (1983): How much you like this movie depends entirely on how much you like Steve Martin. If you're a fan of him like I am, then you'll like the movie; if not, then nothing else in it will save the flick, because it's a pretty dopey, basic picture. Kathleen Turner is a gold-digging woman who is after the inheritance of a recently widowed brain surgeon played by Martin. The two brains part comes in another plot, where Martin meets a mad scientist (played by David Warner) who has a brain with which Martin can telepathically communicate, and he slowly falls in love with it. And then things go on from there. I enjoyed it, but it's not a comedy classic or anything.
Ninja Assassin (2009): A gloriously stupid movie. You can't really expect anything else from a movie called Ninja Assassin: It gives you ninjas and assassins. That's pretty much what it is about. Well, I'm not sure if it is about making the violence so over-the-top that it is hilarious, but that's something else I got from it. How in the hell did Lyndy write about this in any serious way? Hahaha.
On the queue for this week: Panic Room (2002)
Total Movies: 104 (The Taking of Pelham 123, The Station Agent, The Final Destination, Silent Movie, The African Queen, Departures, Moon, Bound, Solaris, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban (Rifftrax), Wristcutters: A Love Story, In the Loop, Public Enemies, Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (Rifftrax), Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann: Lagann-Hen, District 9, The Magnificent Seven, Night Moves, My Name is Bruce, Big Fan, Almost Famous, The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Nosferatu, Drag Me to Hell, The Bird with the Crystal Plumage, Kara no Kyoukai 1-7, 9, Zombieland, Ninja Scroll, Primer, Re-Animator, Summer Wars, The Changeling, The Men Who Stare at Goats, Ponyo, Eden of the East: The King of Eden, Porco Rosso, Something Something Something Dark Side, Castle in the Sky, Robot Carnival, Halloweentown, Whisper of the Heart, The Disappearance of Haruhi Suzumiya, Fiddler on the Roof, Kiki's Delivery Service, Genius Party, Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters, The Sky Crawlers, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, My Neighbors the Yamadas, THX 1138, The Stepfather, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, Tremors, Horror of Dracula, The Brood, Jesus Christ Vampire Hunter, Rabid, Inglourious Basterds, Them!, The Yakuza, Alphaville, Ghost in the Shell, Priceless, The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension, Evangelion 2.0: You Can (Not) Advance, Whip It, A Boy and His Dog, Fletch, The Blind Side, Speed, June 17, 1994, Nobel Son, Invictus, Toy Story 3, The Two Escobars, Soylent Green, Up in the Air, Tyson, This Is Spinal Tap, The Proposition, Killer Klowns from Outer Space, The Informant!, Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Macross: Do You Remember Love?, Coco Before Chanel, The Vanishing, Inception, Mind Game, Pale Rider, The Hurt Locker, Roujin Z, Broken Blade, Fantastic Mr. Fox, Black Christmas, Crazy Heart, The Man with Two Brains, Ninja Assassin)
