In the scene when Detective Kimball (Willem Dafoe) questions Patrick Bateman, director Mary Harron shot a few versions of it. One where Kimball knew Bateman was guilty, one where he knew Bateman was innocent, and one where he wasn’t sure if Bateman was guilty or not.
Harron then edited the versions into one scene, making the audience just as confused as Bateman is, as he’s being questioned.
Paul W. S. Anderson was able to make this movie mostly because of his success with “Mortal Kombat”. The film originally ran over two hours. After the studio and test audiences made certain remarks about the film’s violence and gore, Anderson cut most of it from the film. A decision Anderson regrets to this very day. The scenes were not restored in a director’s cut because the negatives were destroyed.
In the film, Marv refers to his pistol as “Gladys”. We find out why he calls it Gladys in the graphic novel “The Hard Goodbye” and the Extended Version of the film. In a scene where Marv sneaks into his mother’s apartment to get his gun, he explains in the narration that he named the gun after one of the nuns who taught him at school. And that the gun has, “almost lived up to the name”.
In the film, Carrie’s mother verbally abuses her with Bible verses. The “Sins of Eve” as her mother calls it. Basically about how being a woman is a sin.
Except for one thing….all the verses she shouts are fake. Not one verse her mother says at her are from the Bible. A subtle way of showing just how psychotic her mother really is.
In one scene, she claims the verses about how sexuality is evil are in Genesis Ch. 3, but anyone knowledgeable about the Bible knows that Chapter 3 is actually the story of Adam and Eve.
With the plethora of superhero films coming to theaters in 2019, it seems rather fitting that the conclusion of 2018 should come at an epic scale. With the release of DC’s “Aquaman” not only has this been a major improvement on the layout of the DC film universe, but it also has a great deal of action, grandeur, and a good example of storytelling that other superhero films might to able to improve themselves upon.
Up until the release of this film, the DC film universe was basically a hit or miss type situation. This is especially the case with films like “Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice”, and “Suicide Squad.” People either really like these movies or they really hated them. But one thing at the DC cinematic universe has actually shown is that the next film tends to make the previous film just a little bit better.
In the case of their version of “Justice League” it out of a certain lightheartedness that the cinematic universe DC was strongly lacking. Initially, the Aquaman film is a little bit more lighter in story than say other introductory movies like “Man of Steel”. The character of Arthur Curry is a very complicated and yet extremely simple protagonist. One of the oldest forms of storytelling to date: a man fighting his destiny. Well this type of story may be one of the most recognizable, it is also quite possibly the most easily understandable. And then having such a sympathetic character the audience is more easily able to relate to him. This is not a person burdened by the glorious purpose of being a god among men like Superman, or someone with borderline sociopathic tendencies like Batman. For the most part Aquaman is simply a man doing what he believes is right. The exploration of such a character in the DC cinematic universe alone helps garner a better audience response that some of the previous films.
Besides the great acting and story line of this film, another thing that date that deeply deserves praise is the use of visual effects. In presenting the underworld the underwater world of Atlantis, there is great beauty mix both in comic book images as well as typical undersea landscaping. The world present an Aquaman is an elegant and yet chaotic world.
One thing that audience is me find a little bit intimidating about the movie, is the length of time. It seems like they tried to cram a lot of the mythology in as much as short a time as possible which unless the story is written correctly, can get tedious very fast and resulting in a poor film. But for what it was worth the writers and filmmakers did an excellent job in that including very subtle comic book references that only true fans of Aquaman will notice.
Overall, this is a terrific that fully delivers.
This film is the reason there will be no more bad jokes about Aquaman.
Christmas stereo-typically, is the most joyful time of the year, but with mundane, and ancient pagan origins, it’s actually the perfect time of the year for horror films, much on par with Halloween. Like “It’s a Wonderful Life”, or even Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol”. Dark stories meant not only to frighten, but to scare people back on the right path of life. Acting more as a cautionary tale.
Before filmmaker Bob Clark gave us his family film “A Christmas Story”, in 1974 he brought us one of the most important to the horror films of the entire genre. Important because many you could argue it was the Prototype slasher film. “Black Christmas.”
The film is marketed as a psychological thriller which follows a plot line that borders on being stereo typical. A group of girls in the sorority house during Christmas break, and a crazy maniac is in the house tries to kill them one by one.
On the outside the plot actually appears to be quite straightforward. But the complexity of this film is not in the storytelling. It’s complexity is found primarily in the film’s design. Black Christmas is one of those movies where one could actually do a full on ‘CSI type’ investigation. Like a whodunit, very much in the same aspect as John Carpenter’s “The Thing”.
The “if the killer did this and the victims over there, then this must’ve happened here”.
Another interesting thing about Black Christmas is it’s one of the first main stream horror films to actually feature and antagonist whom you’ve never see, you only hear his phone calls and screams, and occasionally you see his POV. This is something that would actually be done later in other slasher films to help create suspense. A good example would be the introduction to the film “Halloween”.
The cast of the film is also great, not just Keir Dullea’s dramatic performance as Peter, but also Olivia Hussey’s great job as Jess. Not exactly a conventional film for the stars of “2001: A Space Odyssey” and “Romeo and Juliet”, respectively. Another famous face in the film is Margot Kidder, making a pre-Superman appearance, as well as Art Hindle of “Invasion of the Body Snatchers” fame and John Saxon, “A Nightmare on Elm Street”.
One quality about this movie that undoubtedly separates it from its other slasher films, besides the fact that this one was made way earlier in 1974, is that it doesn’t obey the rules usually put in the place in the Slasher film genre. Jamie Kennedy made them very famous in the film “Scream” example: virgins are the ones who usually survive, the ones who do drugs or drink a lot and usually die in the film, stuff like that. The film Black Christmas does not actually follow those conventional slasher film rules. As such it’s more logical to call it a Prototype slasher film then it would be to refer to an actual horror film.
Granted, having a bad guy whom you never know the motivations of, or even the very look of the villain, this type of horror film may not pair well with today’s generation. The downfall of most horror movies these days is that people want it 100% closed ended resolution in the end product of the film. Nevertheless, Bob Clark’s “Black Christmas” is undoubtedly a great horror film for all generations.
This prequel to the Harry Potter series finally introduces us to the infamous character Nicolas Flamel, the immortal alchemist who creates the Philosopher’s Stone (called the Sorcerer’s Stone in the U.S. releases). Flamel is one of a handful of characters in the Harry Potter universe that is actually based on a real person.
The real Nicolas Flamel, who lived in the 14th century was really a French scribe whom many thought was an alchemist. Rumor was he actually did create a Philosopher’s Stone, although this is obviously the stuff of legend.
In the film, he is played by actor Brontis Jodorowsky.
This may actually be a reference to his father, director Alejandro Jodorowsky. His father’s films include “El Topo”, and “The Holy Mountain”. Especially in the case of “The Holy Mountain”, Alejandro Jodorowsky is a filmmaker known for using heavy occult imagery in his films. In The Holy Mountain, his father played an Alchemist as well.
