Lars and the Real Girl, 2007 - ★★★★★

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I went into this expecting a fun, wacky comedy. What I got was a heartfelt, well acted, independent comedy that actually plugged on my heartstrings.

Ryan Gosling is awesome in this. He deserved an Oscar for this.

I still don't get how they managed to do this. There is a scene where Ryan Gosling leans over, crying, and kisses a real looking sex doll. And I almost cried. Not of laughter but because it was one of the saddest moments I have seen in a movie in a long time.

I have a weak spot for these kinds of movies, where a whole town comes together to help someone in need.

I've tried recently to give less movies 5 stars because I do that quite a lot. But in the end, I have to rate Lars and the real girl 5 Stars and a like because it's just perfect in any way.

Alien Beasts, 1991

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Watched for Letterboxd Movie Night XL.

Somehow this movie managed to be worse than Attack of the Tromaggot but also better at the same time.

gas_n_go032416, 2016

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Watched for Letterboxd Movie Night XL.

Camera 9 (bottom right) was my favourite.

Stranger Than Paradise, 1984 - ★★★★½

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I'm a big fan of movies about nothing. And I had a great time watching this one. After Down by Law this is my second Jim Jarmusch film and I have decided that I wanna see every Jim Jarmusch film now, because these two, his two earliest works, are enough to get me hooked.

Hunt for the Wilderpeople, 2016

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Watched on Saturday August 26, 2017.

Leprechaun, 1993 - ★★★

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This is a fun movie for date night! Just sit down and have a fun time without having to think too hard or being shocked by the gore.

An old Irish man brings a little treasure to the USA. Sadly, that treasure is linked to an evil Leprechaun who will stop at nothing to "get me gold".

10 years later, Jennifer Aniston moves into the old irishmans house and horror ensues as her and a group of painters she met there have to try and fight the evil little fella or at least get him his gold.

As I said, don't think too hard about it because nothing makes any sense. There is gore in this, but for the most parts it's not shocking, because it's not that well done.

I gotta say though, the Leprechaun is a memorable villain, not just "random psychopath in a mask #15". He's just weird enough that you'll have a fun time.

No it's not a great movie. But then again, it's also not a shit movie. It's right there in the middle, slightly better than 2.5 stars because it knows exactly what it's doing. That's why I'm rating Leprechaun 3 out of 5 stars and a like.

Death Note, 2017 - ★★★

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I haven't seen the Anime nor read the manga. I know it's about a Notebook that kills people. That was enough to make me wanna watch this movie.

And I had a good time. The idea alone means this could be a fun movie. And they managed to do that.

I like the Final Destination vibe we get at the beginning. People die in whacky ways, so that's fun. And they actually added a decent amount of gore that I didn't expect in a Netflix original movie. Also the idea of being able to control the death of people is interesting on it's own.

The characters are interesting enough to keep you hooked. Light seems pretty bland but gets some depth to him, his girlfriend Mia is, in my opinion, a great character for the movie.

My favourite character is L... well L and his assistant. L is also the most complex character in this movie, in my opinion. He is leading the search for "Kira", the weird killer.

Willem Dafoe is great as Ryuk, a sinister demon (I guess), who really likes Apples. I want to say he's underused, but I think having him too much would ruin the character.

Of course the movie isn't perfect. For instance I still don't know how they would arrest Light if they found him, since all he did was write random deaths up in a notebook. No one could ever say for certain that he killed those people.

I still enjoyed the movie enough, it's a fun watch if you've got the time and feel like seeing an interesting premise. As far as I see here, fans of the original can't stand the movie, but as someone not familiar with the source, I can't say that myself. That's why I'm rating Death Note 3 out of 5 stars and a like.

Coldwater, 2013 - ★★★½

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I had never even heard of this movie before until it randomly showed up on Mubi. The premise sounded interesting enough so I decided to watch it.

It's about a Coldwater, a juvenile reform facility that's maybe a bit rougher than you might wish for.

I like the way they tell the story. We get a quick glimpse that our main character has something to do with drugs, then we jump right to Coldwater. Slowly we hear the backstory over time, told in flashbacks, as to why he's even in there.

This movie is much more brutal than I would have expected. And a lot darker and deeper than I would have thought.

I really enjoyed this movie and it's surely worth a watch. 3.5 out of 5 stars and a like.

Mülheim/Ruhr, 1964

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Watched on Monday August 21, 2017.

F for Fake, 1973

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For a 1973 documentary, the editing and narrative is incredible. This movie went so fast, at the beginning I had troubles following what's going on. In the end it's still an incredible documentary worth your time.

Night Fishing, 2011

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Watched on Sunday August 20, 2017.

Cop Car, 2015

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Watched on Sunday August 20, 2017.

Suicide Club, 2001 - ★★★★

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I heard of this movie many moons ago. I heard of the famous train station scene. It sounded intriguing. A long time I was searching for it, now I finally hold it in my hands and I watched it.

After 54 high school girls kill themselves by jumping in front of a train, an investigation starts to find out what's going on. Soon, more and more suicides start to happen and there is talk of a "Suicide Club".

This movie has this crazy mixture of over the top gore that feels almost comedic and really deep themes, about suicide, mass media, peer pressure and much more.

I really wonder why no one ever talks about this movie. Is it too weird? Too messed up? Because as a horror fan I couldn't get enough of this movie. After the famous train station scene (the very start of the movie) there is a bit of a downtime where the movie gets slow and builds suspense. I thought it would maybe be just more of a crime thriller and turn into a procedure.

But it did not, after the "slow" start this movie takes up pace and it won't stop until the credits roll.

My next fear was that maybe the ending would ruin it. Maybe something like "It was only just a dream", or something like that, ruining the whole movie. And while the ending is open for interpretation and makes you think, I never felt it was a bad ending.

Maybe it just went too far out there for some people. Afterwards I found out that the director also made Love Exposure, and now the movie makes even more sense to me. Love Exposure is a weird movie. So is Suicide Club. But they are on different levels. (Also suicide club is only around half as long as Love Exposure).

I'd compare this movie to SAW. It's a police procedural, but you don't really know who the bad guy is. Or maybe multiple bad guys. You're lead to certain points just to lose it again. And I think the gore is around the same level, but more over the top.

What I liked is, also similar to SAW, we don't have a real protagonist. It's about so many different people it's almost hard to keep track of them all.

It's crazy that this was a low budget movie. While it doesn't look like a Blockbuster it still looks like it had a decent budget, but according to the director they even had friends help out as extras and in small roles. You would not think that while watching the movie.

In the end, if you are a horror fan, you should check out Suicide Club. If you like to think after a movie, this is your kind of movie. But if you don't like gore, or want an easy watch, this might not be for you.

I enjoyed Suicide Club very much, it still keeps me thinking a day later. I'm rating it 4 out of 5 stars and a like.

In a Heartbeat, 2017

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Watched on Monday August 7, 2017.

The Mighty Kong, 1998

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Watched for the Letterboxd Movie Night.

I wanted to write a review but I'm still seasick from the animation on that boat.

Sequin Raze, 2013

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If the show is as dark as this short is then I'll have to check it out.

WTF!, 2017 - ★★★

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Suddenly, a new slasher movie appeared on Amazon Prime Instant, for free. Of course I had to watch it.

It's basically the typical Cabin in the Woods story, with the same stereotypical characters (the slut, the jock, the stoner, the virgin). They are so stereotypical that I actually wondered if it was another "Cabin in the Woods". It ain't.

What's new/different in this movie is that the main character actually lived through this situation before, she was a final girl at a massacre. And now, three years later, she's going to another Cabin. Can't happen twice, right? How are the odds? Well, in a horror movie they are against you.

The characters turn actually out to be at least a little fun. Especially the Stoner guy, he has some of the funniest lines.

The gore is pretty good, nothing spectacular, but still enjoyable enough.

The ending is okay, it's an expectable ending, but no fully boring.

In the end, I enjoyed the movie enough, didn't fully hate it, but it did nothing special or new. It will not stick out in a row of modern teenage slashers. I'm rating it 3 out of 5 stars.

Aftermath, 1994

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I actually found this movie on youtube and watched it there in full. 2 hours later I went back to check something and the video was gone. It's that hardcore.

Cannibal! The Musical, 1993 - ★★★

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When I heard that the guys from South Park made a movie called "Cannibal! The Musical" and that Troma was involved (even if they were just the publishers) I was all in.

And it was better than I expected, even though it was far less gorey than I expected. I knew nothing about Alferd Peckert, I just followed the story along.

The movie is mostly just really funny, especially considering it was made as a student film for basically no money (I guess).

You can already see jokes that later appear in South Park, like the Aliens, that one guys hair that looks exactly like Kyle's hair from South Park. Also the overall humor is exactly South Park humor.

It was not a perfect movie, but it was a fun time for sure. Also the songs were really good.

I'm rating the movie 3 out of 5 stars and a like.

PS: The whole movie is on Youtube, on Troma's own channel. For free!

Children Shouldn't Play with Dead Things, 1972

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I'm still not sure I fully grasped what happened in this movie. Everyone just helps with all this stuff, forced to because else Alan, the biggest asshole you'll see, will fire them? How much can that guy even pay them to begin with?

But in the end it wasn't nearly as bad as I expected, and while not a masterpiece, it was alright. Also, this is barely a Zombie movie, it's more about assholes together.

Begotten, 1990

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Watched on Friday August 4, 2017.

Baby Driver, 2017 - ★★★★★

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So I already expected this to be good. Edgar Wright can do no Wrong. And it wasn't good. It was great.

I loved everything about it. Every character is unique, has their own motivations. And while they are all kind of archetypes, they still feel human enough.

I love all the long tracking shots. Very early on there's a really long shot of Baby just walking to get a coffee, perfectly performed to the music, but still in a way that it felt like something a real guy could do.

The first car chase (the opening of the movie) is so much fun to watch. There are quite a few stunts that looked really impressive. And according to IMDb there is little to no CGI involved in the stunts, which makes them even better.

While the story was pretty standard, nothing too out there, I did not mind that. I thought the story was well done and filled so many great characters that I didn't even mind it being nothing special.

I loved the humor. I've heard lots of people say that they expected it to be funnier, but in the end I think the humor is on point. While Wright often succeeds in combining comedy and drama in his movies, I think this movie would have suffered from too much referential comedy. Instead he chose a more subtle approach, mostly through characters that are fun to be with.

Jamie Fox's character is despicable. He is such an asshole, I wanted him to die immediately. John Hamm is the best. I love him in everything, but especially in this movie. My favourite scene in this movie is when Buddy reloads Darling's gun. I can't get over how cool that is.

Lastly, the music was perfect. I feel like this has a bigger playlist than Guardians of the Galaxy, and while GotG has great songs, Baby Driver has lots of lesser known songs. It's crazy how well synched up the movies action is with the music, without it ever being forced onto you. It doesn't feel like everyone is trying to perfectly synch up to the music, it feels like Baby just picked the perfect music for the moment. The former would feel staged and fitted, the former just makes it fun.

I loved this movie and up to this point it is my favourite movie of the year, let's see if it stays that way. 5 out of 5 stars and a like.

He Took His Skin Off for Me, 2014

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Watched on Monday July 31, 2017.