Des

Macabre is a great song. I think I prefer the new version though. Which is unusual because most of the new versions of their songs are worse. This is an exception. Carla Bruni - Liberté Bobby Darin - Mack the Knife Blood Red Shoes - It's Getting Boring by the Sea LOUDNESS - Clockwork Toy Björk - Aeroplane Loane - Petit bonheur Golden Earring - On a Night Like You The Doors - Soul Kitchen Françoise Hardy - Il est parti un jour Annette Hanshaw - I Get The Blues When It Rains

I like how you posted 'etc.' at the end.

The Stranger (1946) Some weaker moments found its way into this towards the end but it was still a very nice film. Edward G. Robinson plays a detective in pursuit of a former Nazi whom he wishes to capture and have put on trial. That former Nazi is played by Orson Welles, who also directed the film. Thrilling noir-esque drama that is definitely worth watching. Just look out you don't watch a bad quality copy of this because it's been in the public domain for a long time and many terrible copies are in circulation on the internet. 7/10 Ice Age: Continental Drift (2012) This fourth film in the Ice Age series has both terrible and terrific moments. It has to be said though that the terrific moments are just very funny... and nothing else. The plot is shallow and mostly an excuse to create ridiculous action sequences, the new characters are unimaginative and some of them really got on my nerves and the dialogue is often lazy and uninvolving. For all the bad things there are a couple of really good laughs as compensation but it's just not enough to give this a positive rating. 5/10 Shurayukihime (or Lady Snowblood) (1973) Completely ridiculous Japanese b-movie with some severed limbs and bloody executions performed by none other than Meiko Kaji in the leading role. The plot is about as simple as it gets. A woman in prison dies just after giving birth to a child who then undergoes excessive training in order to avenge her mother and other innocent people. Finding and killing the wrongdoers is all there is to it. The film doesn't take itself too seriously and I think that's what saved it. Depending on how well you can adapt yourself to something like this it's probably either a 3/10 or 6/10 (that's what it was for me) on the entertainment scale.

Looks like typical Hollywood trash to glorify a somewhat overrated individual. This trailer includes a dozen run-of-the-mill trailer clichés and most films that are promoted like this don't end up to be any good. It might just be a terrible trailer for a decent film but it surely doesn't make me excited at all.

About the cloud... The entire cloud based 'enrichment' of games is not an innovation. It's just a desperate attempt to momentarily improve the looks of a game because their console lacks the power they were hoping to produce at sensible costs. If game developers are going to build games around the cloud server technique, they will deliberately shove some of thefeatures they can offer into the hands of fate. When Microsoft's servers are down or eventually become inactive, parts of games will stop working. Whether that be enhanced graphics, better or different AI or more features... things will be lost. The cloud only encourages developers to create games with a state of mind that says these games will be products to use for a short while before abandoning them. That's a bad thing... and a very, very bad thing if games ever want to be considered a form of art. I wish the cloud idea will be discarded along with the kinect spy-tool. It may not record all activity when it's on (that's what MS promises us at least) but it is able to do so and therefore quite dangerous and scary when it needs to be activated to use all of the Xbox One's features. Now they're trying to promote these things as 'innovation' while they're really just a step backwards. I'm not buying it.

Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956) Timeless horror/sci-fi adventure that never weakens. Very enjoyable. Immersive plot and characters. Even the tacked on prologue and epilogue do not bring this down. 8/10 It (1927) Silent picture in which Clara Bow stars as the girl that has 'it'. Cute film with plenty of laughs and things to enjoy. During the second half there were some stupid character decisions that bothered me because they seemed... well, too stupid to fit the characters. Still a nice film though. Also, this has cameras that zoom in on people. I don't recall seeing that in any film made before this one. 6/10 Crossfire (1947) Film noir-esque entertainment with an excellent cast. Some stereotyped characters but they didn't bother me very much. A murder has been commited on a stranger and a group of friends are (almost) all suspects. It didn't start as a special film but as the plot thickened it surprised me and eventually ended up being better than I assumed. Good. 7/10 Fa yeung nin wa (In the Mood for Love) (2000) No villains, no murders, no great action scenes and no big mysteries. Just an atmospheric portrayal of two people's lives as they start spending time together when they each suspect their husbands of cheating. A perfect film. Breathtaking visuals, beautiful soundtrack, exceptional acting, brilliant directing. To take such a simple story and create something magical. You'd be crazy not to see this sometime. 10/10

The Avengers (2012) Much too long and empty while riddled with lazy dialogue and stupid events. It's as if they didn't even try to make anything believable. Oddly paced too. Some sequences drag on and on and on and others are gone in a flash. Acting was bad. The only people who knew what they were doing were the guys on the animation/CGI team, but those nifty effects alone don't make a good film. Especially if those effects are at times very distracting or don't make sense or simply don't add anything to the plot or shallow characters. 3/10 Murder by Contract (1958) Very good. Only complaint is the ending because it looked a little 'simple' and it wasn't entirely satisfying. Great characters, great pace, great atmosphere, a very simple but effective soundtrack, 8/10 You Only Live Once (1937) This one ends up just on the edge of a positive or negative rating. I liked the events and several of the characters but as a whole it felt a bit empty. Not very lively, rather stale and it lacks atmosphere and tension... ehhh I'll give it a negative rating anyway. 5/10 The Tree of Life (2011) Much love to the beautiful creation of the universe/evolution sequence. A little bit disappointed that this didn't last longer but I will regardless remember this sequence as one of the most beautiful moments in film I've ever seen. I expected a more 'obscure' plot as I went into this film but it ended up to be surprisingly coherent. My only complaint is that sometime just over halfway in the film things went on for a bit too long. If it was just a little shorter that would've probably helped a great deal of the moviegoers to keep paying attention. 9/10 Night of the Living Dead (1968) Oh, that zombie classic. I was annoyed by the run-away-and-trip cliches and several decisions made by characters, but I guess the latter were needed to create this film anyway. Black and white is still the way to go with this film because I feel the several colorized versions out there decrease the level of mystery, horror and tension created by the B&W. 6/10

Wow... it's a really small community and I didn't believe it had a future. The active member count probably doesn't exceed a dozen or so. Quite surprising they can organise an event such as this. So props to them... I guess.

Bland and forgettable...

Aside from MUCC there's no other artist in that shuffle that I like. Golden Earring - Against The Grain Françoise Hardy - Tu ne dis rien X Japan - Standing Sex Annette Hanshaw - I'm a Dreamer, Aren't We All? DIR EN GREY - Kasumi T. Rex - Monolith T. Rex - Visions of Domino The Cardigans - Higher Marianne Faithfull - If I Never Get to Love You Annette Hanshaw - Big City Blues Annette's songs are some of the oldest recordings I listen to. Big City Blues is a jazzy pop song that stood the test of time. It's ridiculously wonderful. I don't know why Kasumi (the The Unraveling remake) from DIR EN GREY is even on my player. I should delete it now, because it's pretty bad...

The console's specifications look fine to me, borderline awesome even, and I'm sure there'll be a bunch of great games coming up for the Xbox One. The incomplete announcements and mysteries surrounding playability of second-hand games make me believe they're just trying to get a grip on the response to such a system... so they can still adjust their ways later on if the general response are extremely negative. Which makes me believe that there's still a chance they'll rethink their ideas and possibly ditch them altogether. But even if they were to ditch their "pay extra to activate and play a second-hand game" idea, the Kinect thing is still quite scary though. There is no way I would ever connect a camera to a console and give it permission to see what I'm doing all the time. This alone would push me towards a PS4 or possibly no console at all... but a better PC instead. I think reactions on the internet are fierce and agressive and rightfully so but I fear many people will eventually buy the console anyway (with the Kinect requirement, with the internet requirement and with unattractive second-hand games) and say something along the lines of: "ah, it's not that bad... after all... I'VE GOT NOTHING TO HIDE, RIGHT?". The Xbox One will still be a commercial success if Microsoft succesfully convinces the dumb masses and desperate fanboys that it's 'essential' and 'groundbreaking' and come up with another series of games in the veins of Halo and Call of Duty and those karaoke 'party' games in which you must sing Taylor Swift songs or dance to some electronic pop music. People actually pay for that stuff and will continue to do say even if it means selling their souls to corporations, giving up their privacy and getting screwed with overpriced second-hand stuff.

Not going to write much about each film anymore. Nobody here does anyway. Keeping it short. Videodrome (1983) Bizarre sci-fi/horror that is open for different interpretations. I liked it, but it's not a masterpiece. 6/10 Requiem for a Dream (2000) Repetitive, manipulative, annoying, shallow, dumb. No idea why this is so highly praised universally. 2/10 The Transporter (2002) Inexcusably bad. 1/10 Nick of Time (1995) Has its moments, but it's nothing special. Would not recommend unless you're a big Johnny Depp fan. 5/10 Ladies and Gentlemen, the Fabulous Stains (1982) Follows the rise of an all-girl band through the underground circuit to mainstream (though controversial) success. Entertaining low-budget production that screams 80's. I enjoyed this. 7/10 Who Framed Roger Rabbit (1988) Actually a rewatch but I'll add this one to the list anyway. Enjoyed it even more than I did back when I first saw it. Probably because I understand more of the fun now than when I was younger. Great! 8/10

I believe it was less than €25 for a ticket over here (The Netherlands). I expect it to be higher this time though. That is if they come back here again.

Everybody knows what Madame Tussauds is but I guess nobody really cared for that. They wanted a new album or a new world tour. The latter is what we got. I'll go to their concert again if tickets are the same price as last time around. But I have no doubt that the success of last tour will drive the prices up...

It wouldn't come as a surprise. The band has been a bit of a joke for a while now.

I'm only familiar with Lykke Li and ACIDMAN out of those... and I only like ACIDMAN. Blondie - One Way or Another The Cardigans - Paralyzed Lana Del Rey - Off to the Races The Stone Poneys - Sweet Summer Blue and Gold Sai Yoshiko - Hatoba Led Zeppelin - Nobody's Fault but Mine Brigitte Bardot - Paris (Instrumental) The Cranberries - Wake Up and Smell The Coffee The Stone Poneys - Meredith (On My Mind) Chantal Goya - Comment le revoir "Sweet Summer Blue and Gold" is a short song and over way too quickly but it's lovely. "Paralyzed" is perfect though, so I'll go with that one.

The Immigrant (1917) A 20-minutes short Chaplin film made almost a century ago... indeed. It's a good ol' slapstick comedy but also shows some of the difficulties of immigrants when they arrive in a 'new world'. At least you could see it that way if you wander into over-analyzing territory. Either way, it's a fun little film that made me laugh several times. Genuine comedy is timeless and The Immigrant is just one those films that proves this. The simple and rather predictable concept would've never succeeded if it was drawn out to a full length picture but as a 20-minutes short it's an entertaining piece and worth watching. Can be found on Youtube as well. 7/10 Mary and Max (2009) A clay-animation dark comedy film about two very lonely pen-pals who live in very different environments but share their love for Noblets (a fictional cartoon) and chocolate. The film features some childish humor and explores some very dark themes going as far as suicide. The voice-over narration just keeps going endlessly and was boring at times. Half of the jokes felt forced and weren't even all that funny to me. Some are even repeated in an unfunny matter. If there's one thing to say about this film it must be that it's completely unique. I've never seen anything like this. It's full of sadness from the intro to the very end and yet it doesn't feel all that sad. I liked it at times and disliked it at other times feeling I was being fed some stereotypes. It's difficult, borderline heartless, to give this film a negative rating as I appreciate the effort and the ideas that went into making this, but honestly... I can't give it a postive rating considering the execution just wasn't that good. The narration started to get boring after the first 30 minutes and half of the attempted humor felt forced... like it must've been funnier in their minds but it turned out to be mediocre on the screen. 5/10

Se7en (1995) Dead bodies start turning up and notes found at the murder scenes of the victims refer to the seven deadly sins. Pride, Gluttony, Sloth etc. Two detectives, one relatively new guy (Brad Pitt) and one about to retire (Morgan Freeman) team up to solve the mysteries surrounding this killing spree and to find the person responsible. The film ultimately relies on its shock elements with plenty of gore and signs of extreme torturing of the victims and a try-hard not so intelligent plot. I experienced this as wasted potential. The 'sins' theme present throughtout the film remains shallow and the filmmakers tried to create a 'deep' and intelligent character in the form of a killer but in fact he was just some random lunatic. He contributed nothing worth mentioning. And neither did anyone or anything else in this film. There were moments in the film with a genuine tense atmosphere, I'll give it that, but in the end it just desperately tried to be dark and edgy. It wasn't much fun. 4/10

Oblivion (2013) A surprisingly good and very nicely crafted sci-fi adventure. It suffers a little from some of the lazily written dialogue... especially those conversations between Tom Cruise and Andrea Riseborough and another small point of criticism might be the dull orchestral score that is supposed to make certain moments in the film more 'epic' while it really was quite... well, dull. Lastly, one or two of the action sequences were too long. But this is partly forgiven thanks to the great action directing during these scenes. When something gets destroyed or killed or when something crashes into the ground (which happens more than once in this film), it's actually very easy on the eyes and easy to follow because the scenes aren't too 'flashy' and you get a very clear view of what is going on. The shifting between different camera angles isn't as rushed as you see in many other films. Thumbs up for this. I like it. Everything else about this film is good to very good. The CGI landscapes, thunderstorms, buildings, robots and other vehicles are all very effective and memorable for a change. It's very stylish and often shines thanks to the simplicity of the carefully created designs. In other words: this film is pure eyecandy and I would rank it as one of the greatest looking films of the last few years. I know this is a lot of praise but I honestly believe they did an awesome job. Tom Cruise, while he shouldn't be ranked as a top actor, did an excellent job and the rest of the cast was quite simply: good. Andrea Riseborough however has to deal with some of the earlier mentioned lazy dialogue which results in a slightly 'underachievement' by her but that wasn't her fault. She couldn't do all that much with the role she was given. Many folks on the internet try to hammer down this film with a 'predictable plot' statement and even claim that everything has been 'stolen' from other films. While Oblivion does indeed reference to some other science fiction works (such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, the low-budget Moon and even the very mediocre epic Independence Day) and combines certain plot elements it still feels refreshing. A couple of plot points were indeed very predictable but it didn't bother me at all because the excellent presentation overshadowed this. The events are paced just right. The plot is very engaging even if it isn't the most original storyline. Several details are beautifully placed throughout the film. It's a wonderful experience. Oblivion is a great science fiction adventure like we rarely see these days... with a great deal of CGI put to GOOD use. Would watch again. Highly recommended! 8.5/10

While I don't believe they put that much time into these videos, they do make me cringe. Especially those videos made to promote a tour (usually overseas) where the band tries to act 'cute', 'shy' and 'funny' as if their target audience consists of merely 12 year old giggling girls. MUCC, exist†trace, D, Versailles and many more bands have all done this. After watching these videos I feel violated.

I like the simplicity of the covers. Tastefully done.

Heaven Can Wait (1943) It suffers a little bit from a few melodramatic moments that change the tone of the film shortly but as a whole this is an incredible film! It could be best put in the 'romantic comedy' category and while this genre has been overloaded with mediocre and forgettable stuff, this is one of the hidden gems. The beginning and ending scenes are especially great and there are several other moments of genius throughout the film. The timeless comedy (mostly present in witty dialogue) is genuinely funny and I really recommend this one. 8/10 Also, it was filmed with early technicolor which gives the film those vibrant, warm colors. It looks great!

I Confess (1953) Fun little Hitchcock film but it's far from perfect. Montgomery is magnificent in the leading role with superb acting and some of the plot developments are interesting... but there are a couple of flaws in that latter department. Some of the characters' decisions are... well, ever seen a horror film where the characters do absolutely everything they shouldn't do? I Confess is a bit like that sometimes. Some illogical events happen just for the sake of happening. The pace isn't always consistent either. Sometimes it feels too slow, sometimes it feels rushed. I'll leave a positive rating for this one though because there definitely were some really good parts and Montgomery manages to save some of the otherwise very mediocre scenes. 6/10 Dark Passage (1947) It looks like this one has grown to cult-classic status and I can understand why. It's basically a b-movie with rather absurd events and an inventive but not a particularly witty script, but it draws you into their world anyway. The film is very entertaining to watch with two big stars in the leading roles, Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, as they were both fantastic. Bacall more so than Bogart actually. While it isn't an unforgettable film by any means, its entertainment factor is certainly very high and will probably leave most viewers satisfied. 7/10

The Petrified Forest (1936) On could argue that the two main characters (played by Bette Davis and Leslie Howard) fall in love much too quickly, but it's actually quite charming in this film... in a way. One could also argue that Howard's plan was a bit too far fetched and unbelievable, but I think it actually suits his extraordinary character. Either way, everything else about this film is very good. The dialogue is superb: it's funny, witty, a little silly and perfectly timed. The characters are a lot of fun and the use of just one location for the greater part of the film doesn't get boring at all. Only near the end of the picture I suddenly realized this was the case! A lonely diner/tank station in the middle of the desert is always a great setting. Romance, crime, comedy, drama, there's lots of fun in this one. 8/10 Like Someone in Love (2012) A very slow moving and very compact film. It follows the relationship between a young woman in Japan who earns some extra money as an escort and an old man living alone in a cozy apartment. The man isn't looking for sex however. When they first meet, they just talk... and talk and talk. There's some more backstory for both characters but I'm not going to spoil this. I think it's best to see this film without knowing too much about it. I enjoyed this film very much despite its sluggish pace. There are several scenes which could've been shortened immensely but it didn't bother me that much in the end. The connection between the two main characters works so well, it makes the whole film worthwhile. 8/10

I'm sure she was going for that look... except in a positive way. I wonder what made Manson even think about collaborating with that girl. Perhaps she has some good material this time?