114 - Mysterious Skin

Connection To 50/50 - Joseph Gordon Levitt.

I'm really putting myself through the ringer today it seems - a film about cancer followed by a film about child abuse... Now, Gregg Araki is the sort of director, who to be fair can alienate people, something like Nowhere is a film I actually like in it's oddness but I remember watching it with somebody and the best way to describe it - is they didn't like it at all - which to me is what you can say about a lot of Araki's work.

This to me with every Araki film taken on their own merits is the best film he has ever made - a film that at times can be a tough watch particularly the early scenes of abuse and later SPOILER rape and attack in New York City END OF SPOILER but is a film worthy of your time and attention.

The in your face homosexuality of the movie might not be to everybody's taste (I'm talking to you in particular homophobes), there is a number of gay sex scenes while don't show any of the act, linger on them, so for me no problem, and same for a lot people I know but hey some people will be put off by it.

You would think a movie where one of the main characters believes he was abducted by aliens would be a turn off but it's played off really well in the film - as is, how do I word this - the opening scene showing the start of the abuse, his baseball coach molesting him - the way it's filmed is shown really well how a pedophile would befriend a youngster to let lower their guard, like it's shown from the kids point of view how they would see the guy.

Overall, often tough going but a really rewarding experience in the long run. The film is pretty dark for the most part but it will stick in your memory for a long time to come.

113 - 50/50

Connection To THE 40 YEAR OLD VIRGIN - Seth Rogen.

I think I've been holding off watching this honestly because of the cancer subject - It not exactly an easy subject to be in the mood for, even a film like this that allows moments of comedy - the truth is a lot of us will have known somebody who has fought cancer (or worse - lost someone), so yeah it was about the right time for me at least - well come to think of it to be fair, the first time I had a chance to watch this is when I first got Netflix, and I like most people where indulging on Breaking Bad - so yeah I think it really was a case of too much cancer.

I'm glad I've finally watched it since it was a film I really liked - it wasn't too side-splittingly funny that it distracted from the serious of the movie and yes it wasn't too downbeat that you are absolutely depressed watching it.

For me the characters felt real - from the pair of older cancer patients, to Levitt's girlfriend at the beginning of the movie (played by Bryce Dallas Howard) to Seth Rogen's best friend to Anna Kendrick's inexperienced counselor - they all felt like real people having to deal with this situation, but it's Joseph Gordon-Levitt's make make no mistake about it.

This might sound a weird comment to make but I wish more "disease" movies where like this - able to show all sides of the emotion, whilst most prefer to concentrate on the sad side.

Overall, not a film I'm going to watch much in my life because I don't want to put on a "cancer" film, but if I see it again I can see myself being just as affected by it.

47 - Halloween H20: 20 Years Later

Connection To HOLLYWOOD HOMICIDE - Josh Hartnett

Like Jason and Freddy, all the years of sequels of varying qualities it was sometimes hard to remember what made them so iconic in the first place, the Halloween films went from awesome, to a pretty good sequel, then Michael Myers-less, to my opinion, three films that are quite hard to distinguish from each other, I think Halloween H20 (which is not set underwater) was obviously mean't to the series farewell with original (and first sequel) star Jamie Lee Curtis returning as Laurie Strode.

One note that is not really related to my opinion, Total Film, a magazine here in the UK back in 1998 gave the film the full ***** that as stuck in my head (similar to Empire giving Die Hard With A Vengeance the same score), so I think when I first saw it in the same year I had high expectations I remember not disliking it but I know it's not a 5* film, I think it was an example for me at the time of how reviews in magazines you like can already send you prejudging it in hope or negativity.

H20 is set 20 years after the first 2 Halloween films hence the title, it pretty much ignores 4,5,6 (no reason to ignore the 3rd one since it's not related) except for noting that she faked her death which is probably to account from the 4th movie saying she was dead but I'm actually not sure if it was intentional to be honest because why would they ignore everything but that.

So yeah 20 years later, Marion Chambers (Nancy Stephens, who appeared in the first two movies), Dr. Loomis' colleague, returns home to Illinois a few days before Halloween (in 1998) to see there's being a burglar, and she gets neighbour Jimmy (Joseph Gordon-Levitt, then best known for being Tommy on 3rd Rock From The Sun - indie cred and film fame hadn't happened yet) searches the house but finds nothing, Mario discovers a medical file is missing the one of Laurie Strode (who remember because of the second movie is noted to be Michael Myers sister) and discovers in fact somebody is still in her house and rushes to Jimmy's where she finds him and a friend dead (Jimmy gets a ice hockey boot in the face) where Michael Myers attacks her and slices her throat.

On Halloween, Laurie (Jamie Lee Curtis) as tried to get her life back together even faking death and moving to California and changing her name, she's now a headmistress at a boarding school and as a son John (Josh Hartnett) and boyfriend Will (Adam Arkin), the schools guidance counselor, she seems to have everything sorted but the events of 20 years ago still haunt her, and as you expect The Shape shows up again in her life.

Revisiting this movie made me realize the film at times is kind of well average, I mean it was cool there an Halloween sequel with Curtis but there just seemed way too many of that thing from the horror movie bag of tricks - the fake jump scare - after the opening death scenes, there seems to be about a 100 before it gets to Myers at the boarding school,

Curtis is strong in the lead role and it was cool seeing her share the screen with her movie Janet Leigh (obligatory Psycho reference goes here), I liked the idea of her character trying to rebuild her life but the past is just not that easy to escape mentally. Josh Hartnett, which I've noted as someone I'm not a fan particularly plays off well with Curtis, his love interest is placed by Michelle Williams, who like Gordon-Levitt at the time was best known for TV (Dawson's Creek for her) then the film career that would flourish in the years to come who doesn't really show (not pushed to I guess) the acting talent she proved she had, there 2 friends are played by Jodi Lynn O'Keefe and Little Man Tate and are really the only 4 teenagers in it for the films slasher time. There's also LL Cool J, who does a better job then the rapper-turned actor for the next Halloween movie Busta Rhymes mainly because there not a scene of LL doing kung fu on Michael Myers, he plays the schools security guard.

One thing I didn't remember his how short it was coming in at 85 minutes and it does zoom by to be fair - there's some good deaths and it's a step up from the the previous 3 Halloween films and miles in front of Resurrection. The ending was great just a shame it was literally undone in seconds by the film's sequel (the final in the series until Rob Zombie relaunched)

While Scream was indebted to the slasher genre the original Halloween helped launch, this is a Halloween film inspired by Scream's success (Scream's writer Kevin Williamson is a producer here) and it's too me better then Urban Legend and some others where the names completely escape me at the moment.

Overall, despite too many fake jump scares, it's film short running time means it doesn't wear and it's funny seeing Laurie and Michael go toe to toe one last true time. So I'm going with recommended but with faults.