#the terror. or the cinematography people

[daincrediblegg]

Btw I’m so sorry to everyone for the person I’m going to become on tuesday. Its the joaquinsurgence

[briwates]

One of my favourite cinematography aspects of tdj is that it has multiple scenes of chaos mirroring each other (people scrambling in the church fire, the SRF gala in ep4, the school children fighting in the flashback of yohan's past, the final act in ep 16 before yohan explodes the courthouse). While ep 16 is very much Yohan's reproduction of that commotion in the middle of the fire, he...was not in the church yet when it happened. He's seen running towards it, he's pushed out of the way by heo jungse, cha gyeonhui etc but when he actually steps foot inside there's only isaac, heejin and elijah trapped by the debris and fire.

At first I thought ep 16 was simply Yohan putting the SRF and heo jungse + his wife in the same situation as 10 years ago for his vengeance, but now im realising he's actually recreating the terror felt by his family and making them experience it by feeling completely trapped and at his mercy...

[thecarnivorousmuffinmeta]

For you and vinelle: You're given complete free reign over an adaptation of the twilight series, SMeyer's opinions be damned. What major adaptational choices are you making in this series (especially in terms of differences to the plot of all four books)? Who (if not yourselves) are you hiring to write, direct, and score the series? What's a really memorable scene people will take away from your adaptation?

You know this would never happen, right?

I mean, I'm not even in this position, but if I was no studio would ever, ever, give me or any director full reign over Twilight of all things. It would be very clear what's expected from such a venture and it's... more or less what we got in the Twilight films.

But since we're here, let's do this. I have entirely too many thoughts on how I'd do this.

What Changes Are You Making?

Everything.

It's now a single, though very long, film (probably with an intermission like ye olden days) that starts before canon when Carlisle Cullen is turned and the Twilight saga is merely the second half of the film.

The plot itself is the same as Twilight, the same things happen, but it's from an entirely different perspective.

It covers his turning, his stay in Volterra where he discovers he's not a demon but that this world exists on bloodshed and murder and that Aro while an intellectual is an unrepentant warlord, his leaving and attempting to find like peers, and cutting forward to the Twilight saga where he watches in baffled confusion and hope the terror the whirlwind romance of Edward and Bella through to the trial.

It's ultimately a tragedy about a man who despite or perhaps because of his ceaseless optimism and stubbornness ends up in this unenviable position where he may or may not have topple the brutal (though perhaps necessary) ruling power who happens to be his old best friend who may or may not be trying to kill him.

The ending he knows that either his family will be murdered one day or this man will die and the world will change greatly because of it. Carlisle stares off into the sunset and tries, and fails, to look happy about the fact that he saved his granddaughter whose parents are utterly terrible.

What's Production Like

We're going back in time and David Lean is directing with Freddie Young doing cinematography (a lot of wide angle shots of the forests/London where Carlisle tries to kill himself, Tuscany, the Olympic mountains, and more) and Jarre doing the soundtrack.

@therealvinelle and I are writing the script because I trust myself with this.

What Scene Do People Remember

The trial, particularly Irina being lit on fire, would be extremely memorable I imagine. As would Edward meeting the Volturi for the first time.

Feel free to add or else fight me, @therealvinelle

[nanomooselet]

Episode Three: Bright Light, Shine through the Darkness

Okay, let's try this whole meta thing.

Bright Light, Shine through the Darkness was the episode where I realised I was in some deep trouble. I was aware of Trigun, but never really got around to looking into it until this ep was airing, and the two episodes before were, how can I say, everything I'd been lead to expect? Meryl is so angry and kind and Rosa so cool, and of course to look upon Vash is to adore him, precious darling boy. But I was still waiting for the hook, the reason to continue. Episode three, then: the one where the series finally begins. It's done saluting the work of the past and pivots to the story it's here to tell.

And I had no inkling it would be a story of such deliberate, implacable terror. It opens by telling you a storm is coming, but given that in minutes people are dying by land mines and remote drones, you'd think the storm was already here. Blood splashes! Meryl nearly gets her dumb ass flattened! E.G.'s motives aren't the kind receptive to Vash's forgiveness and whoo boy, for a moment you almost believe Vash will withdraw it. But Meryl turns it around (waaah she's so brave, she and Vash and Roberto made such a good team) and it seems the next challenge will be talking the elder Nebraska out of revenge, because anyone will pick up a gun when their loved ones are killed.

Then the piano rings out, right as Nebraska demands to know whose side Vash is on. It's a haunting, wistful tune and the score fell silent for quite a while first, which makes the notes even more out-of-place. The colour has been drained, everything is shrouded with smoke, and the cinematography has shrunk to mid shots and close-ups. Vash stands there in paralysed in fear for over ten seconds. You forget, in what follows, that we were given fair warning.

Nai was present in the opening scene, and Knives stated his intentions clearly enough at the end of the first episode. We saw this fuse being lit and the detonation still comes as a surprise. Not to mention Knives's influence is felt absolutely everywhere once you know to look for it – the bounty and the threats it inevitably attracts, the military police (and boy do I have thoughts on them, but it's only the final episode that'll come back), even the environment, the insects and birds. Tonis's little cage of buddies that Vash promised he would keep safe! Nothing hasn't felt Knives's fingertips - playing, pushing, manipulating.

Vash has to accept at the end of the episode that there was no longer any way he could avoid facing his brother, not if he wanted the people around him to be safe. While I don't think Knives was out to get Vash on this particular trip, I think he's just fine with Vash believing that's why he was there. Let him think it really is his presence, his “bad luck” that led to this destruction.

It's at least consolation to know Gofsef and his father are still alive at the end, though they're not in the best shape. I missed it the first time. But my God, poor Rosa. Poor Tonis. We never get that manga bit where Vash explains that if he took a life, Rem would never forgive him, but we don't really need to after that.

And when it took time out of Vash's self recriminating angst to show us Meryl also feels responsible, I sat up. She'd been so directly driving the plot so far, but I hardly dared hope for more. It was oddly reassuring.

All in all, fantastic episode, and I haven't even talked about the strongest portions. I hope everyone who worked on it is proud of themselves. I couldn't have asked for better. I'll close on what might have been my favourite moment (and by that I mean for me the most emotionally devastating): Vash crying as he flees the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, pulling blood-spattered Rosa after him.

[animebw]

Your review of ONK made me wonder: If a show tries to convey a message and the viewer fails to get it, how much blame can be placed on the author and how much on the people? A person may try to explain something as clearly as possible, but there will always be someone who won't understand, so who can be blamed?

I want to clarify that this is not an attempt at a last minute defense of Aka or the series, but a genuine question that has been on my mind since reading the review.

And I apologize if the question is unclear, I'm not a native English speaker.

Oh, it's a very valid question. And not one exclusive to anime; Fight Club is a perfect example of that question. So many of its fans see it as an aspirational tale of Manly Men Rejecting Modern Society And Embracing The Masculine Tradition Of Violence, but the movie's whole point is that its characters are a bunch of loser incels turning to violence and terrorism to cope with their emasculation complex and the whole masculine glorification of violence is Bad, Actually. Is it th4e audience's fault for missing the message so profoundly because it conflicted with their preconceptions and biases? Or did the movie just not do a good enough job communicating that message and accidentally made the concept of fight club itself seem way cooler than it meant to? Genuinely hard to say.

That said, one bit of analysis I've always found really handy comes from Lindsay Ellis' video series on the Transformers movies: "Framing and aesthetics supercede the rest of the text, always, always, always." When you're working with a visual medium, what's communicated visually will always register more strongly than what's simply part of the story and dialogue (hence why "show don't tell" is such a big rule). In the case of Fight Club, you could argue that the cinematography and editing do such a good job selling the illusion of fight club as something cool and fun and desirable that the intended subversion where the movie then goes "Psych! These people are all losers" in the final act doesn't register as strongly. In the case of anime, it's why your standard fanservice package does such a disservice to female characters; no matter how well written or interesting they might be, if they're constantly framed tits and ass first, that's how the audience will primarily remember them.

And don't get me started on Attack on Titan, which is basically Fight Club's issue stretched across almost a hundred episodes. You spend the first half of the series basically force-fed in-universe fascist propaganda that gives you a biased perspective on what's really going on, only for the curtain to pull back in the second half and force you to confront the grim reality the first half purposefully hid from you. It puts you in the same place as the characters, forced to re-evaluate everything you though you knew and realize just how easily you were taken in by lies and genocidal rhetoric spread by this world's version of the Nazis. But because the first half of the series was so effective at selling you on that rhetoric with its orgasmically violent action and rousing speeches set to epic music, a bunch of fans never grew out of it and continued beating the drums of fascism even as the series turned around and started ripping apart the very ideals it was once holding up. Which is how you end up with a bunch of unironic Eren Yeager stans cheering for him to literally destroy the world because they think he's some kind of based uberchad instead of a fundamentally broken shell of a man running on hate-fueled exhaust fumes until he burns himself down to nothing in his inability to escape the cycle of violence he's become ensnared in. Because that was the story they were trained to expect, and they refused to budge when the other shoes started dropping.

Now, that doesn't really apply to Oshi no Ko since its issues are all primarily text-based, not visual-based. But it's a useful bit of critical thinking that informs a lot of the way I look at media. In a visual medium, visuals always hit harder and leave a stronger impact than words alone, for better or worse.

[nockergeek]

For the past two years, my partner and I have spent October watching horror movies. Some are films we know, others are new to us. Each year, we try to theme the movies; 2021 had Undead October (all vampires, zombies, and ghosts), and 2022 had Otherworldly October (all threats from space or other planes of reality).

2023’s theme? Kingtober - all movies based on stories by Stephen King.

We try to watch a movie everyday, but sometimes life gets in the way. The last two years, we’ve ended up with around 21 movies watched. We’re just shy of three weeks in, and up to 14 movies.

Our reviews so far:

(Note: these reviews are our opinions. As always, your mileage and tastes may vary.)

Movie 1: Carrie (1976). Stephen King’s first published novel, the first film adaptation of his work, and one of the best. The direction and cinematography is fantastic, and while maybe not scary, it tells a tragic tale of a girl victimized on all sides. Highly recommended. A.

Movie 2: The Shining (1980). I’m a fan of the book, and… I have notes. I’m with King on this one - Kubrick did not make a good adaptation. He has a great sense of framing shots, but no sense of humanity. Jack’s slide into madness feels more like a facade cracking. C at best.

(Yeah, that one’s going to be controversial. I know it’s a very famous film, and Kubrick is a director with vision, but I don’t feel like he gets people well. Also knowing what he did to Shelley Duvall makes it hard to watch her scenes.)

Movie 3: Doctor Sleep (2019). An intriguing sequel to The Shining, and you definitely need to have seen that film to appreciate the visuals in this one. Better characters, but a far more complex plot that doesn’t quite fire on all cylinders. Decent use of Chekov’s boxes, though. A high B-.

Movie 4: Silver Bullet (1985). A passable popcorn werewolf movie. Good story (Cycle of the Werewolf is a good novella) marred by some rough acting, uneven pacing, and some really bad effects. I’m guessing they didn’t have Rick Baker werewolf money. A solid C+, and very watchable.

Movie 5: Cat’s Eye (1985). A perfectly serviceable anthology with two thrillers based on short stories, and one new kid’s fantasy/horror story. Really only marred by horrible synth music. It would get a B, but Drew Barrymore gets flipped off by a troll, so it gets an automatic A+.

Movie 6: The Dead Zone (1983). One of the best King adaptations so far, easily up there with Carrie. David Cronenberg is a fantastic director, and he and Christopher Walken tell Johnny Smith’s tragic story of unwanted psychic visions with craft and grace. This one gets a solid A.

Movie 7: Creepshow (1982). George Romero and Stephen King’s homage to old EC horror comics. It’s intentionally campy and wonderfully stylish, with vivid colors and dark comedy throughout. Good use of animated interludes, which really drives home the comic book feel. A fun B+.

Movie 8: Christine (1983). The tale of a boy and his evil, possessed, regenerating murder car. John Carpenter does a great job adapting the book to film, and has some fantastic shots, the best of which is Christine in flames chasing a bully down like the devil itself. Another solid A.

Movie 9: Children of the Corn (1984). Wow, this movie was bad. Poor pacing, terrible effects, high-school-level acting, multiple characters making dumb decisions, and odd exposition kids ruin what is otherwise a neat concept. Such a letdown after the last two films. D-.

Movie 10: It (2017). This one was solid, a very good adaptation. It did a good job of ratcheting up the terror, making you want to see how It was going to mess with the members of the Losers Club, and had good character arcs too. Let’s hope Part 2 holds up as well. This one gets an A.

Movie 11: It Part 2 (2019). So, yeah, the follow-up was just about as good as the first one. Excellent pacing with moments to breathe and laugh between the horrors, and a surprising amount to say about trauma and healing. Maybe a bit overlong, but still good. B+.

Movie 12: Graveyard Shift (1990). A movie about an old textile mill with one hell of a rat problem. This one is both over- and under-acted at the same time, and the lead has zero presence or charisma. Mildly entertaining, though, in a campy way. Still better than Children of the Corn. C-.

Movie 13: 1408 (2007). One skeptical writer vs. the most evil room ever. Purely psychological/paranormal horror, and excellently written and acted. Lots of fake outs and mean-spirited twists in this smallest of haunted houses. Among the best we’ve watched so far, and an easy A.

[dio-the-thot-exterminator]

Can I have a list of some of your favorite obscure horror movies so I can watch them at some point?

Of course! hehe not sure how obscure these films actually are, but I like them, and people don’t talk about them enough 😞

Housebound (2014) [so fun, so silly!]

Die Säge des Todes (1981)

Ticks (1993) [YEEEAH buggies]

Starry Eyes (2014) [god tier blood, grime, and UNEASE]

The Suckling (1990) [yummy creature design]

Broken (2006)

The Initiation of Sarah (1978)

The Beast Within (1982)

Terror Train (1980) [i like miss jamie <3]

The Premonition (1976)

The Unborn (1991)

Squirm (1976) [more bugs! cute lil worms]

Don't Go In The House (1979)

Satan’s Little Helper (2004)

Prophecy (1979)

We Are What We Are (2013)

Don’t Go Into The Woods (1981)

Graduation Day (1981)

The Incredible Melting Man (1977)

Jason X (2001) [This movie is solid! Everyone’s such a hater 😡]

—

Oh! Then I have some films that are more popular.

The Brood (1979)

Tokyo Gore Police (2008) [mouth watering practical effects!!!]

A Reflection Of Fear (1973)

Trouble Every Day (2001) [This actress man, just WOW]

Repulsion (1965)

Pieces (1982)

Triangle (2009)

—

Now I wouldn't call these obscure but i like them so much, and any chance I get, I will tell people to watch them 🥺🥺

Possession (1981) [One of my favourite movies of all time! The story, the acting, the effects UGH. Gagged me for sure.]

Dead Alive/Braindead (1992) [Honestly up there with Possession. So good but in a completely different way. It’s high camp, high gore, and it felt like i was high while watching it]

Lake Mungo (2008) [A movie that actually scared me while i was watching it, and stuck with me for a good week. Triggered my fight or flight like no other. rawr]

No One Lives (2012) [This would run all the time when I had cable. And I'd sit and watch it every time this came on. There are...certain scenes that are just burned into my mind]

The Cell (2000) [I don’t even know what to say. The visuals in this movie are just SO GOOD. I want to tongue kiss the entire art direction team. The costumes, the cinematography, it’s so creative and so lovely]

—

I have to give a mini shout out to Lucio Fulci, he is my favourite director. Period. If you’re interested in his movies [some focus on zombie, slasher, Giallo] his Gates of Hell Trilogy is always a good start!

—

Ah alright now onto production companies [yay? Woohoooo??]

Troma. Fucking Troma, a lot of the movies they make are gross, stupid and cheap. So if you want something that’s absurd but still strangely entertaining. I’d recommend looking through their catalog of movies, picking a random one and seeing what happens.

Full Moon Features <3 If you want some film series, I’d recommend Puppet Master and Subspecies! [I’ve seen every Subspecies]. Full Moon has a lot of killer doll and toy films. But they do branch out. Castle Freak kinda wild though.

—

Ok i'm done now.

If you have any movie recs for me, send them my way :D

[mcu-reviews]

Iron Man

The film that started all of this. iron man is a pretty standard "difficult man"(1) story. Tony Stark starts off the story as an arrogant and self centered womanizer. After he is attacked by his own weapons and meets a man who is from a village terrorized by his weapons, he shuts down weapons sales and plans to stop the terrorists. In the process he falls in love with his assistant, and discovers his father figure is the actual one supplying the terrorists. The film touches on themes of the military industrial complex, personal accountability, and how you shouldn't trust jeff bridges.

I really like this movie, Who doesn't? It's a very fun movie and started the mcu. The casting is amazing and it isn't the most beautiful movie but the cinematography was also quite good. The costume designs are emmaculate for the suits. They balance just enough comic accuracy with bringing iron man into the modern(y2k) era. The costumes and suits all feel earned with the appropriate build up to actually getting the suits.

The story is very good especially around tony's character and his personal relationships. Tony's arch in this movie is learning to think about people other than himself. The opening is very good at showing tony stark is a dick. He ignores an award ceremony to gamble with women, gives the award freely away, defends selling weapons of mass destruction to the military to a reporter while trying to get into her pants, does get into her pants and brings her back to his apartment, and finally gets his best friend drunk when he didn't want to. When tony is in the cave with yensin it is excellent at setting up tonys motivation to be a better man. He directly sees the brutality of the war on terror and the personal damage it can inflict through yensin. Overall the first half of the movie sets up a very interesting premise and plot. In the second half i really like how it sets up this ever expanding universe, its very subtle and if you didn't know anything about the mcu, you wouldn't bat an eye at shields inclusion and find the nick fury cameo at the end is very fun.

In the second part of the movie is when my problems appear. It feels slower with a lack of real tension for anything involving jeff bridges character. Iron monger also has a lack of real motivation for killing tony stark and the ten rings is under developed in this first movie. it also lacks a real critique of the us military, only a critique of the companies who make weapons. I really like how Brett Pardy put it in his article The Militarization of Marvel’s Avengers(2)(3), "The problem is not the weapons but the companies selling them are amoral." Even with these problems in the second half i do enjoy the scenes involving pepper potts and tony stark. It shows a real romance and tony branching out to actually care about people.

Overall the movie is good with a flawed message around the war on terror. It is not the best superhero movie but it is the movie that started the modern superhero craze for a reason. iron man feels standard today but was very revolutionary when it came out.

(1) Difficult men by brett martin

(2) The Militarization of Marvel’s Avengers

(3) the video where i discovered bretts article

I built a house!

[avida-heidia-5]

I Just Watched: Society of the Snow (2023)

I don’t think I’ll ever be boarding on an aeroplane again after watching this!!! 😰

This was the most stressful and the most terrifying film I have ever seen. I was on the edge of my seat the whole way through! I spent a good chunk of the runtime hugging my legs close to my body in absolute terror! I’m not joking! 😧

The film is based on the harrowing true story of when Flight 571, while flying from Uruguay to Chile, crashed in the heart of the Andes Mountains, and the people who survived the accident work together to survive while trying to navigate their way home.

I wasn’t familiar with the story going into it. My parents have heard of it though, so I had to rely on them most of the time to know if what we were watching was accurate or not. I was also a little apprehensive upon reading the film’s synopsis because it sounded like your typical Hollywood blockbuster where they’re likely to glorify certain events and miscast actors who portrayed the real people involved in these events.

While watching the film however, I was pleasantly surprised to find that it didn’t feel blockbuster-y to me at all! Everything felt incredibly intimate, as if you’re watching a documentary with the way it was shot and acted. It felt grounded in reality thanks to the stunning cinematography and wonderful acting from the cast. The casting was excellent and the acting phenomenal. So much so, that I grew to care about the characters they portrayed and the perils they faced. Everyone was fully committed to their roles and shone like stars in the sky. I was admittedly close to tears by the end. It was so beautiful, I loved it! 🥲

I found out after doing some research that a lot of what happened in the film was accurate to the source material, including the scenes that involved c******lism. Having that bit of information in the film made my jaw drop. That was a very bold move on the film’s part! It was very disturbing to witness, but I enjoyed it regardless. Maybe a couple of minor details here and there were a little inaccurate, but that didn’t bother me in the slightest.

I’ve just learned that J. A. Bayona directed this. It’s a name you might not be familiar with, but he was the one who directed one of my favourite disaster films The Impossible (2012), which starred Ewan McGregor, Naomi Watts, and a very young Tom Holland. Funnily enough, that film was also based on a horrifying true event. Instead of a plane in the Andes, it’s a tsunami in Thailand in 2004; an event my parents also remember reading and hearing about on the news. I can imagine Bayona researching the hell out of these events to make sure the stories he tells are as close to accurate as possible, and he delivers to an insane degree every single time.

On another note, Michael Giacchino composed the score for this film. It’s not quite as memorable as his other work for, say, Pixar for example, but it suited the tone of the film exceptionally well. So if you’re a fan of his music, I recommend giving it a listen.

Overall, an utterly compelling and terrifying film to sit through. It filled its 2 1/2 hr long runtime very well. I cannot recommend this film enough! Give it a watch if you have the time.

(Now I need to watch it again in the original Spanish language. We watched the English dub and it was actually pretty good. English dubbed versions of foreign languages are notoriously awful (at least, by Netflix’s standard), so I was surprised by that. I’ll need to see how it compares with the original Spanish version though.)

9/10

[pansexualkiba]

another recent trend on tiktok and therefore has captivated twitter is the Grimace Shake meme, where people will drink the grimace shake and then cut immediately to them in gruesome shasher deaths, but all the blood and gore is replaced by the grimace shake. objectively, it's a fascinating exercise in horror cinematography and atmospheric terror, but subjectively, im glad the writer's strike is ongoing or else snl is going to do a whole sketch based on this one trend.

[webbywatcheshorror]

Saw (2004)

You (probably) know what Saw is. On the slim chance you're one of today's lucky 10,000 who doesn't, it's a movie about a serial killer who puts his victims in deadly traps in order to teach them a lesson about valuing their lives, asking them what acts of violence or self-harm would they commit to keep themselves or their loved ones alive?

I won't lie to you. Saw is one of my favorite movies of all time, above almost all others. I've mentioned on a few other reviews how much I loved them, how much they influenced me, but this one blows them all away. It came out on video around when I was 15 or 16, and back then I hadn't had a lot of real experience with horror as a genre, but I thought I knew enough about it. And I didn't care much for it. (I used to be a huge wuss. I still am, but I used to be, too.)

Then my dad brought this movie home, and when I finally got around to watching it, I was entirely and irrevocably altered. Suddenly I realized that I knew absolute jack shit about horror. Its potential, the kinds of stories you could tell, the effects it can have on an audience. Without Saw, I would be an entirely different person, and I know how that sounds. I really do. But it's the truth.

Anyway, I said all that to impress upon you how very incredibly biased I am when it comes to this movie, so you can keep it in mind as we dive into more specific things during the review.

Another thing to keep in mind is that I am looking at this as a standalone film, and not the first of a franchise of films. (I might, sometime in the future, review the series as a whole, but not today.)

Review under the cut, and as always beasties and ghouls, SPOILERS ahead! (Yes. There are people who haven't seen this movie. Why they'd be reading this, I have no idea, but that's their business.)

Where do I even begin with Saw. I could talk for hours about it, the characters, the tragedy of it all, the in-universe details and the real life behind the scenes stuff. I am fully enamored with this film.

We'll start with the cinematography, since I'm not very knowledgeable on the topic and I'm less likely to ramble endlessly about it.

The scenes of the other victims in their traps, where it speeds up, really gives them a sense of mania, of panic. It really adds to the terror of the situation and gives these characters we get to see so briefly some needed characterization with the camera work alone. In fact, every time they do the choppy editing, it lends a feeling of tension that permeates the entire movie.

There's a scene, one of many, that has stuck with me these past 19 years, and it's the shot of little Diana Gordon sitting up in bed, half her bedroom shrouded in the darkness. On first watch, it's deeply unsettling, but even after you know who it is, it doesn't get any less fucking terrifying. One of my fears is the dark, not being able to see into a room or the entire room, because of scenes like this.

The characters. Good god, do I love the characters in Saw. They're complicated, flawed, neither good nor evil but a secret third thing: deeply human. (Except John Kramer, but we'll get to that.) They're all just People, trying to make it through the day, however they can. Adam, trying to pay his bills and keep himself fed by spying on people; Lawrence, dealing with the stress of being a doctor and a father who's lost his joie de vivre and decides to cheat on his wife about it; Tapp, wracked with guilt over losing his partner and letting Jigsaw escape, throwing everything he has into stalking the wrong man at the cost of his own health. The more we learn about these characters, the more fascinating they become to me.

Let's talk about John for a moment. More articulate people than I could tell you, in rich detail, about why he's not a savior, but I tend to just boil it down to this: you can't 'fix' people with trauma. I think John is evil, or close to it. Look at the people he chooses to punish- Paul, who cuts himself; Mark, who claims to be sick but is also seen out and about; Amanda, a drug addict. Paul could have depression or some other mental illness. Mark could have an illness that is only debilitating /some/ of the time. Amanda has an addiction problem. You know what would have actually helped them? A fucking support system. Some understanding. Not additional issues, JOHN.

John is, despite his tendency to target those already struggling, still an interesting person, as Zep says. He's also a hypocrite of the highest degree. Shaming Adam for being a voyeur, but drugging himself so he can lay in the middle of the bathroom floor for who even knows how many hours just so he can watch Adam and Lawrence fumble around? Pot meet kettle situation.

(I'm trying to keep this from becoming an entire-ass essay, I really am, but as I mentioned, I could do this all day.)

Adam and Lawrence's transformation throughout the movie is so intriguing to me. Lawrence, the logical Father Knows Best guy, used to always being the one in control of any given situation. Adam, low on the social ladder, prone to emotional outbursts, used to being kicked when he's down. By the end, they've become entirely different men.

Lawrence changes into an unthinking mess, acting on his out of control emotional state to an extreme degree, while Adam becomes a man who not only finally wants to live, but puts in the work to prove it, attacking Zep and killing him, with the kind of determination he hadn't shown until that moment.

The twist is still just so good. It was mind blowing then, and it's a great story beat today, almost 20 years later. When John sits up, Hello Zep playing in the background... it still gives me chills. To think of how Adam must feel, alone in a room with nothing but the dead for company, waiting on the promise of a severely injured man, thinking it's finally over.

Adam's screaming into the darkness breaks me a little, I won't lie. The horror of his situation finally overcomes him and all he can do is scream. That sound is burned into my brain, possibly for life. Then, the credits roll, with the calmness of the credits, Adam's cries still echoing before the quiet music begins to play, and the audience is left stunned. No relief for us, no relief for Adam.

In the years before the sequels, there was so much talk among my friends and I about what could have happened afterwards. Did Lawrence make it out? Did Jigsaw ever get caught? Did Adam die alone in that grimy bathroom? I used to make up possibilities in my head about ways Adam could be saved.

You see, I've always identified with Adam. Struggling to keep going, feeling outcast, chained in a place we didn't want to be, having to rely on others for help getting out, dismissed as juvenile, clinging to people that hate us because it's better than being alone, and wasting our lives because we weren't living them the way others thought we should, regardless of WHY. I had always hoped he made it out. Maybe in some other reality he does.

Anyway enough about that, let's move on. One thing of many I love about this movie is how it makes you think, really think, about what you would do if this happened to you. Would you, could you, crawl through a cage of razor wire to save yourself? Could you kill the family of a co-worker to save your own skin? Could you maim or dismember yourself?

There's an excellent podcast, Jigsquad Pod, that talks about this next point, but I have to mention it also. Jigsaw feels like a boogeyman figure. He sees your every sin. He judges you, then takes you from your place of safety- your house, on the way home from work, and punishes you. It can happen to anyone, anywhere. He can't be caught, can't be killed. He's a phantom. I love that feeling in this movie, the almost campfire story of it all, the way you might tell it to your friends in hushed voices at a sleepover.

I give Saw X ghosts outta ten. It may not be the movie James Wan and Leigh Whannell set out to make, it may have been rushed and stitched together out of all the footage they had and then some, but it's a masterpiece in my heart. It changed me, in hundred of ways I can't begin to understand, but I'm glad it did. (Not all of those ways are for the better, probably. I mean, I did spend several hours once, thinking up- in detail- what my personal Saw trap would be.)

As much as I love the entire franchise overall, cop-centric soap opera that it is, if it had stopped at just this one, I'd still be satisfied. I hope it never gets a remake, because there's no way it could ever be made more perfectly than it already is, flaws and all.

[crediblebombthreat]

Emesis Blue Review (Spoiler Free)

Finished it a few nights ago instead of sleeping.

I've been watching Source Filmmaker animations for a very very very long time now. I enjoy their variety. Narrative-driven short films have been a staple of SFM animation for a long time now. As are ones where the medic's face has three polygons, and he says some garbled mixture of voicelines that makes the demoman scream and explode. I enjoy both types -- in different ways.

There's something charming and human about a good SFM animation! At all skill levels, there's always something that cues you in to the personality of the person (or people) who made it. SFM has a certain "digital spirit" that you don't really see anymore. An open-source tool that invites creativity, playfulness, and collaboration. In that way, it's the closest thing we'll ever get to Team Fortress 3.

Emesis Blue -- underneath all of the horrors, terrors, viscera, and such -- is deeply informed by this digital spirit. It makes a point to be fun. It's very earnest. It's fanfiction. Everything it does, it does unflinchingly. The utter lack of apprehension towards what's considered cringe or gauche can be off-putting![1] But it's attached to such undeniable skill and craftsmanship (craftsmannship?) that even the most self-conscious and critical people should be able to get over it without much trouble.

There are plenty of valid complaints, of course. Are there parts of the screenplay that feel a bit off? Sure. Is the voice acting perfect? No. Could the camera have held a few shots for just a little bit longer? Oh yeah. Did Blutrarch and Redmond's models make me want to punch my computer monitor? Absolutely. But all of these are eclipsed in totality by the cinematography.

Some of Emesis's shots are unlike anything I've seen in an SFM before. Beautiful, striking, stunning. My heart almost crawled out of my mouth when I realized that there are people in the fandom born after 2005 -- and that this might be the first time they've seen competent lighting, framing, and shot direction. Of course, this is in comparison to more contemporary movie making. Emesis frequently gestures[2] towards classic avant-garde horror masterpieces, and, despite how presumptuous that may be, pull it off almost every time.

There's a whole lot to like, and if you're one of the three people who haven't seen it yet, I really encourage you to check it out -- even if you're not into TF2 (which you will be, very soon).

[1] If you're not a regular tumblr user, anyway. Everyone here lives for the cringe and the gauche.

[2] The gesture is more of a beckon than a point, mind. Fortress Films actually understand what made these movies look good.

Spoilers Below

When medic peeled back the medicine label and it was a secret medicine that was different I laughed out loud. Same thing with the spy turning into jerky. That shit had my dying. The scene where soldier shot Blutrarch was shot well, but I couldn't get over how goofy the soldier looked.

I greatly appreciated how they never bothered to explain who the plague doctor was, or what was in the suit case, or what was/wasn't real. It was ambiance. It primed you for certain emotions and sensations, and when it was no longer useful they moved on to something cooler.

Despite the narrative restraint, some shots REALLY could have used some more time. Like the medic accepting a cigarette in the elevator. Just half a second more to pause. Let it breathe.

[ars-goetian-prince]

let’s talk about the movie that has quite literally made me feel like i am on an acid trip, 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘺.

released in 2018 and staring nicholas cage as the main protagonist, this movie is an incredibly intriguing revenge flick, if a bit slow-paced. i want to ramble about some of the things i’ve noticed in 𝘔𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘺, which hopefully interests some of you.

hatred is learned.

within the first half hour of the movie, there is a scene featuring mandy speaking to her husband about a traumatic experience which occurred in her childhood.

her father murdered baby starlings in front of her & her friends, and even encouraged the children to join in. all of mandy’s friends took part in the killing, except for mandy herself, who was mortified by the situation.

while seemingly insignificant as compared to the rest of the movie, i found this story very intriguing. i decided the message it provided was that “hatred is a learned behavior.” mandy’s story depicts an authoritative figure encouraging murder and hatred in young children, to which they oblige because they’ve been taught to listen to adults. this is similar to how racism and homophobia are taught to young children; parents encourage and push their perspectives onto their kids, which leads to them harboring the same hateful beliefs when they mature.

the sub-message here is that love is natural. mandy felt naturally drawn to these birds and the thought of harming them terrified her. her infatuation for nature and life came instinctively while the other children’s ’ hatred for it was learned.

this story may also be foreshadowing the upcoming events with the cultists, as they do awful things for the approval of jeremiah, their hateful and narcissistic leader (similar to the kids seeking approval from mandy’s dad).

drug usage; what was it?

i did some mild research on hard drugs that most people don’t know about after watching the movie. it led to me finding some interesting ones, like one called “khat”.

this drug is often associated with terrorism, and is actually common in the middle east. it’s basically coffee to the extreme level.

it’s associated with terrorism because it gives the user a feeling of invincibility. when nicholas cage dips his finger into the jar of *substance* in the biker gang’s house, he basically whoops ass 10x the amount he could have achieved normally.

my thought is that this substance was a mixture of khat (a very high concentration) and some other hallucinogen & psychedelic drugs.

i also found one that is known as “poor man’s heroin,” which turns the user’s skin into a scaly, rotten texture upon injection. the bikers’ skin was essentially screwed up beyond repair, which makes me think they used this sort of injection a lot.

these are just some thoughts, let me know if any of you have any theories/ideas about this movie. i think it’s very interesting and the cinematography is beautifully done.

[autistic-robin]

s5 manifestations

henry monologues about capitalism again but this time he’s ending his reign of terror in a self-sacrificial way and they’re kinda just letting him get his final manifesto down before he kicks the bucket

byler endgame of course

platonic max and mike development (LET THEM BE FRIENDS!!! PLEASE GOD)

more steve and robin ride-or-die friendship moments

more ronance queerbait <3

a lucas-steve-dustin team-up

hop & el post-battle reunion that isn’t immediately cut short by one of them dying

joyce and will post-battle reunion

moments with joyce & jonathan bc i miss their dynamic from s1 so much dear god

more of jonathan and steve and nancy (maybe some actual resolution for them?? please???) (also stoncy nation it’s time to come out of the woodwork damn)

robin and mike convo about comphet!!!

erica and lucas sibling rivalry

will having powers would cure my mental illness actually

murray psychoanalyzing byler (respectfully and not outing them ofc)

teams i would love to see happen: (mike, will, nancy, jonathan) (steve, robin, lucas, el) (joyce, hopper, mike, will) (robin, jonathan, el, will)

hopper punches more and more people every season so i think in s5 he should get to deck at least 20 people

nancy fights monsters with her bare hands while robin operates a tank

el dyes her buzzcut pink in the wheelers’ bathroom to reclaim her agency

el and lucas heart to heart or we ride at dawn

LITERALLY platonic madwheeler

dustin lucas mike will original party teamup!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! HELLO FOR THE LOVE OF GOD HELLO

argyle and murray have an isolated interaction for comedic relief that’s intercut with a super tense scene of hopper and joyce fighting for their lives in the upside down (a la pass the dutchie playing as argyle rolls up to the byers house getting raided in s4. you know the vibes)

robin and el convo. let them miss social cues and be autistic together

max wakes up and is pissed as fuck she got put on the bench (callback to steve and the party in s2 they will always be famous)

or conversely max is instrumental in helping them win against henry from the inside

joyce beats someone up (going back to her s3 town hall roots!!)

vickie and mike veiled gay confessionals while robin and will walk and talk ahead of them

i will NOT know peace until st replicates the absolute RUSH of adrenaline everyone felt during the van-flip scene in s1. the sheer excitement and vindication i felt in that scene is something i feel the show has never been able to produce again and i want them to return to that minimal style of depicting el’s (and will’s fingers crossed) powers in s5 because it feels so much more REAL

I WANT THE GRAINY DESATURATED AESTHETIC OF S1 BACK GOD DAMN IT GET THIS OVERPRODUCED CINEMATICALLY-ADVANCED FLASHY SHIT OUT OF MY GAY MONSTER SHOW !!!!! alright i’m good now

but seriously a return to season 1 is all i want and need. a GENUINE return in terms of aesthetics and cinematography and THE TONE OF THE SHOW. i love comedic relief as much as the next person but god the absolute whiplash s3-4 gave me in terms of tonality was painful. i want st to be serious again.

[dionaeafl]

回路！

In Kiyoshi Kurosawa's 2001 horror film "Pulse" (known in Japanese as 回路かいろ "Kairo"), the internet isn't just a place to connect – it's a yawning abyss of loneliness, threatening to swallow any user whole. The story unfolds in Tokyo, the most populous and densely-packed city on the face of the Earth, yet where our characters feel utterly alone. This isolation fuels a supernatural horror unlike any other, where ghosts aren't confined to graveyards, but slither through the very cables promising connection.

Pulse follows several characters, their paths converging as a strange phenomenon grips the city. Many residents begin inexplicably taking their own lives, and those left behind are plagued by disturbing visions – pale, faceless figures appearing on computer screens. This imagery isn't just jump scares; it's a slow, creeping dread. The faces represent a surge of loneliness, a hollowness that spills out of the internet and into the real world.

Michi, a young woman working at a computer help desk, witnesses this firsthand. People call in, their voices laced with terror, describing the spectral encounters. The internet, supposed to bridge distances, has begun its transformation into the existential garbage disposal we know today. Meanwhile, Ryosuke, a hacker, stumbles upon a disturbing website promising a connection so complete, it erases your very existence. This website embodies the film's central fear: the internet as a Faustian bargain: it can connect you to anyone in the world instantaneously but at the cost of your sense of self and reality.

Kurosawa's cinematography is absolutely on point for the whole film. We see characters dwarfed by empty apartments, their faces illuminated by the cold glow of computer screens. The sterile hum of technology underscores the lack of human connection. The ghosts themselves are unsettling – distorted figures with vacant eyes, mirroring the emptiness they represent. The hollowness of their eyes showing clearly the yawning gap between reality and internet simulation they experienced before dying.

The film doesn't shy away from the dark side of human connection in the digital age. We see people using the internet for fleeting moments of intimacy in online chatrooms, only to be left feeling more isolated afterward. The characters yearn for connection, yet their attempts through technology only push them further away. Like a digital Chinese finger trap: the harder you try to force it, the worse you're stuck.

Pulse isn't a film that relies on gore or jump scares. It's a slow burn, a meditation on the anxieties of a hyper-connected world. It forces us to confront the chilling possibility that the very tool designed to bring us together might be driving us apart (honestly "might" isn't even necessary). Even today, the film feels eerily relevant. Social media can be a breeding ground for loneliness, with carefully curated online personas masking the emptiness underneath. A neologism for this phenomenon is "parasocial". Pulse serves as a stark reminder of the importance of face-to-face human connection in a world entirely dominated by screens. It's a film that will stay with me like Ghost in the Shell or Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade have.

[denimbex1986]

'OPPENHEIMER (2023) 94% #1 Critics Consensus: Oppenheimer marks another engrossing achievement from Christopher Nolan that benefits from Murphy's tour-de-force performance and stunning visuals. Synopsis: During World War II, Lt. Gen. Leslie Groves Jr. appoints physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer to work on the top-secret Manhattan... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Emily Blunt, Matt Damon, Robert Downey Jr. Directed By: Christopher Nolan

A QUIET PLACE PART II (2021) 91% #2 Critics Consensus: A nerve-wracking continuation of its predecessor, A Quiet Place Part II expands the terrifying world of the franchise without losing track of its heart. Synopsis: Following the deadly events at home, the Abbott family must now face the terrors of the outside world... Starring: Emily Blunt, Cillian Murphy, Millicent Simmonds, Noah Jupe Directed By: John Krasinski

THE WIND THAT SHAKES THE BARLEY (2006) 90% #3 Critics Consensus: Bleak and uncompromising, but director Ken Loach brightens his film with gorgeous cinematography and tight pacing, and features a fine performance from Cillian Murphy. Synopsis: In 1920s Ireland young doctor Damien O'Donovan (Cillian Murphy) prepares to depart for a new job in a London hospital.... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Padraic Delaney, Liam Cunningham, Orla Fitzgerald Directed By: Ken Loach

INCEPTION (2010) 87% #4 Critics Consensus: Smart, innovative, and thrilling, Inception is that rare summer blockbuster that succeeds viscerally as well as intellectually. Synopsis: Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a thief with the rare ability to enter people's dreams and steal their secrets from... Starring: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy Directed By: Christopher Nolan

28 DAYS LATER (2002) 87% #5 Critics Consensus: Kinetically directed by Danny Boyle, 28 Days Later is both a terrifying zombie movie and a sharp political allegory. Synopsis: A group of misguided animal rights activists free a caged chimp infected with the "Rage" virus from a medical research... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Noah Huntley, Naomie Harris, Brendan Gleeson Directed By: Danny Boyle

BATMAN BEGINS (2005) 84% #6 Critics Consensus: Brooding and dark, but also exciting and smart, Batman Begins is a film that understands the essence of one of the definitive superheroes. Synopsis: A young Bruce Wayne (Christian Bale) travels to the Far East, where he's trained in the martial arts... Starring: Christian Bale, Michael Caine, Liam Neeson, Katie Holmes Directed By: Christopher Nolan

THE PARTY (2017) 82% #7 Critics Consensus: Old-fashioned charm meets sharp wit and modern social satire in The Party, a biting comedy carried by a shining performance from Patricia Clarkson. Synopsis: A comedy of tragic proportions.... Starring: Patricia Clarkson, Bruno Ganz, Cherry Jones, Emily Mortimer Directed By: Sally Potter

RED EYE (2005) 79% #8 Critics Consensus: With solid performances and tight direction from Wes Craven, Red Eye is a brisk, economic thriller. Synopsis: In the wake of her grandmother's funeral, hotel manager Lisa Reisert (Rachel McAdams) is waiting to fly back home when... Starring: Rachel McAdams, Cillian Murphy, Brian Cox, Jayma Mays Directed By: Wes Craven

SUNSHINE (2007) 76% #9 Critics Consensus: Danny Boyle continues his descent into mind-twisting sci-fi madness, taking us along for the ride. Sunshine fulfills the dual requisite necessary to become classic sci-fi: dazzling visuals with intelligent action. Synopsis: In the not-too-distant future, Earth's dying sun spells the end for humanity. In a last-ditch effort to save the planet... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Chris Evans, Rose Byrne, Michelle Yeoh Directed By: Danny Boyle

PEAKY BLINDERS (2013) 93% #10 Synopsis: Britain is a mixture of despair and hedonism in 1919 in the aftermath of the Great War. Returning soldiers... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Natasha O'Keeffe, Paul Anderson, Sophie Rundle Directed By: Otto Bathurst, Anthony Byrne

INTERMISSION (2003) 74% #11 Critics Consensus: An edgy and energetic ensemble story. Synopsis: After Dublin resident John (Cillian Murphy) attempts a "trial" breakup with his girlfriend (Kelly Macdonald), she starts dating a middle-aged... Starring: Colin Farrell, Shirley Henderson, Kelly Macdonald, Colm Meaney Directed By: John Crowley

GIRL WITH A PEARL EARRING (2003) 73% #12 Critics Consensus: Visually arresting, but the story could be told with a bit more energy. Synopsis: When her father goes blind, Griet (Scarlett Johansson) must go to work as a maid for painter Johannes Vermeer... Starring: Colin Firth, Scarlett Johansson, Tom Wilkinson, Judy Parfitt Directed By: Peter Webber

FREE FIRE (2016) 70% #13 Critics Consensus: Free Fire aims squarely for genre thrills, and hits its target repeatedly and with great gusto -- albeit with something less than pure cinematic grace. Synopsis: When a black-market arms deal goes outrageously wrong, Justine finds herself caught in the crossfire, forced to navigate through... Starring: Sharlto Copley, Armie Hammer, Brie Larson, Cillian Murphy Directed By: Ben Wheatley

THE DELINQUENT SEASON (2017) 67% #14 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: Two couples in suburban Dublin appear to live in marital bliss until an altercation between one of the couples occurs,... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Andrew Scott, Eva Birthistle, Catherine Walker Directed By: Mark O'Rowe

ON THE EDGE (2001) 67% #15 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: When a young man suffering from depression after the death of his father is committed to a mental institution... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Tricia Vessey, Jonathan Jackson, Stephen Rea Directed By: John Carney

ANTHROPOID (2016) 67% #16 Critics Consensus: Anthropoid completes its mission rather unevenly but delivers a historically illuminating story with great performances to back it up. Synopsis: In December 1941, two Czech soldiers (Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan) parachute into their occupied homeland to assassinate Nazi officer Reinhard... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Jamie Dornan, Charlotte Le Bon, Anna Geislerová Directed By: Sean Ellis

BROKEN (2012) 63% #17 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: A girl witnesses a violent attack committed by a neighbor in one of three interconnected stories in a British housing... Starring: Tim Roth, Eloise Laurence, Cillian Murphy, Rory Kinnear Directed By: Rufus Norris

RETREAT (2011) 62% #18 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: On an isolated island, a couple's attempt to recover from a personal tragedy is shattered when a stranger washes ashore... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Jamie Bell, Thandiwe Newton, Jimmy Yuill Directed By: Carl Tibbetts

BREAKFAST ON PLUTO (2005) 57% #19 Critics Consensus: Well-acted if monotonous drama about a transvestite prostitute in London during the 1970s. Synopsis: As a baby, Patrick (Cillian Murphy) is left by his mother on the steps of the rectory in their small... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Liam Neeson, Stephen Rea, Brendan Gleeson Directed By: Neil Jordan

WAVERIDERS (2008) 56% #20 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: The untold story of Irish big wave surfing.... Starring: Cillian Murphy Directed By: Joel Conroy

PERRIER'S BOUNTY (2009) 55% #21 Critics Consensus: It has interesting characters and a strong cast, but Perrier's Bounty ultimately fails to do anything original with them. Synopsis: A petty crook (Cillian Murphy), his ailing father (Jim Broadbent) and a pretty neighbor go on the run from an... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson, Jim Broadbent, Jodie Whittaker Directed By: Ian Fitzgibbon

TRON: LEGACY (2010) 51% #22 Critics Consensus: Tron Legacy boasts dazzling visuals, but its human characters and story get lost amidst its state-of-the-art production design. Synopsis: Sam (Garrett Hedlund), the son of famous video-game developer Kevin Flynn (Jeff Bridges), has been haunted for a long time... Starring: Jeff Bridges, Garrett Hedlund, Olivia Wilde, Bruce Boxleitner Directed By: Joseph Kosinski

IN THE HEART OF THE SEA (2015) 42% #23 Critics Consensus: The admirably old-fashioned In the Heart of the Sea boasts thoughtful storytelling to match its visual panache, even if it can't claim the depth or epic sweep to which it so clearly aspires. Synopsis: In 1820, crewmen (Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy) aboard the New England vessel Essex face a harrowing battle for... Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Benjamin Walker, Cillian Murphy, Brendan Gleeson Directed By: Ron Howard

IN TIME (2011) 37% #24 Critics Consensus: In Time's intriguing premise and appealing cast are easily overpowered by the blunt, heavy-handed storytelling. Synopsis: In a future where time is money and the wealthy can live forever, Will Salas (Justin Timberlake) is a poor... Starring: Justin Timberlake, Amanda Seyfried, Cillian Murphy, Vincent Kartheiser Directed By: Andrew Niccol

THE EDGE OF LOVE (2008) 37% #25 Critics Consensus: Despite effective performances from Knightley and Miller, The Edge of Love lacks a coherent narrative. Synopsis: Two women (Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller) are best friends and rivals for the love of poet Dylan Thomas.... Starring: Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy, Matthew Rhys Directed By: John Maybury

ANNA (2019) 33% #26 Critics Consensus: Anna finds writer-director Luc Besson squarely in his wheelhouse, but fans of this variety of stylized action have seen it all done before -- and better. Synopsis: Beneath a woman's striking beauty lies a secret that will unleash her indelible strength and skill to become one of... Starring: Sasha Luss, Luke Evans, Cillian Murphy, Helen Mirren Directed By: Luc Besson

RED LIGHTS (2012) 30% #27 Critics Consensus: Wasting the talents of an impressive cast on a predictable mystery, Red Lights lacks the clairvoyance to know what audiences want. Synopsis: Professional skeptics (Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver) try to prove that a famous psychic (Robert De Niro) is lying about his... Starring: Cillian Murphy, Sigourney Weaver, Robert De Niro, Toby Jones Directed By: Rodrigo Cortés

DISCO PIGS (2001) 20% #28 Critics Consensus: No consensus yet. Synopsis: Pig (Cillian Murphy) and Runt (Elaine Cassidy) born on the same day, in the same hospital, moments apart. Twins... Starring: Elaine Cassidy, Cillian Murphy, Geraldine O'Rawe, Eleanor Methven Directed By: Kirsten Sheridan

TRANSCENDENCE (2014) 19% #29 Critics Consensus: In his directorial debut, ace cinematographer Wally Pfister remains a distinctive visual stylist, but Transcendence's thought-provoking themes exceed the movie's narrative grasp. Synopsis: Dr. Will Caster (Johnny Depp), the world's foremost authority on artificial intelligence, is conducting highly controversial experiments to create... Starring: Johnny Depp, Rebecca Hall, Paul Bettany, Cillian Murphy Directed By: Wally Pfister

ALOFT (2014) 17% #30 Critics Consensus: Glacially paced and ineptly plotted, Aloft crushes the game efforts of a talented cast under a dreary viewing experience whose title proves sadly ironic. Synopsis: Accompanied by a documentary filmmaker, a falconer (Cillian Murphy) sets out across a frozen landscape to find his mother... Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Cillian Murphy, Mélanie Laurent, Oona Chaplin Directed By: Claudia Llosa'