mercurial

Member since 2/12/2008, last signed in 5 days ago.

"be afraid. be very afraid. or not."

Send a message

Add to contacts

Invite to a group

Personal statement:

hmm, let me stew on it.

[more]

Interested in: No particular genre

mercurial's movie tags

Talk

Little Miss Sunshine

Weekly Theme for July 21: Road ...
By mercurial in Weekly Theme
"With the summer months waning and my own plans for vacation steadily approaching, it seemed apropos to dedicate this week's theme to that equally loved and despised category of film known as the road movie. From the family-friendly RV to the magnificently perverse Natural Born Killers, the road movie appears in countless incarnations and across all genres. Personally, Almost Famous has remained not only my favorite road movie but overall one as well. The aforementioned Natural Born Killers, Pee-Wee's Big Adventure, Dogma, Little Miss Sunshine, Boys on the Sideand Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas round off the list. Others include Gregg Araki's The Doom Generation and The Living End; the various Aussie flicks like the Mad Max trilogy and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert; the Indie hits such as Easy Rider and Buffalo '66; and lastly Alexander Payne's About Schmidt and Sideways. So bring out the map and let us in on some your favorite road movies! " [More]

Mamma Mia!

Mamma Mia! - Review
By mercurial in a filmblog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Anticip . . . ation. The actors. The music. The whole shebang. When everything aligns into the perfectly anticipated film and nothing can go wrong. Until you begin taking those first big gulps of your soda and unexpectedly aspirate a handful of popcorn. The indelible stage play Mamma Mia! wholeheartedly attempts to capture the magic of ABBA and metamorphose it into a cohesive story about life and its many eccentricities. Depending on whether or not you have seen it will undoubtedly effect your subsequent opinion of the filmic adaptation. With a spastic story-line mixed with bewildering musical sequences, Mamma Mia! is constructed for a special someone that can ignore lack of musical talent and focus blithely on superficiality. Equally filled with moments of mild amusement and unbearable pain, it's definitely a sight to behold for all of those that want to "take a chance" on it. " [More]

Edward Scissorhands

Re:Weekly Theme for July 14: Th ...
By mercurial in Weekly Theme
"Aside from some of my favorites that were already mentioned (M, Edward Scissorhands) I have to say one of the best angry mobs is in Xala. A group of disenfranchised disfigured and destitute storm the home of a wealthy politician, strip him down and proceed to take turns spitting their disease ridden mucus all over him. Fun times. Without straying too far from the topic (the rebellions of films like Battleship Potempkin, Mutiny on the Bounty, Cutthroat Island, Pirates of the Caribbean, etc.) some of the mob scenes that stick out in my mind are: Citizen Ruth - Loaded with mobs of crazy anti-abortionists. The Dreamers - At the end of the film when the mob of students storm through the streets. The Night of the Hunter Elvira, Mistress of the Dark - Hilariously bad movie with a great mob of prudish townsfolk. A Nightmare on Elm Street - Brief but essential. Dogville - I know this is bending what exactly constitutes an "angry mob" but the conspiratorial townspeople are just completely fu ... " [More]

Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew - Review
By mercurial in a filmblog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Simple, clean lines with sporadic bursts of color. Like the vintage clothing she makes herself, Nancy Drew is a peculiar case just waiting to be solved. Seemingly existing in a world deeply hidden within our own in which teenagers barely able to drive are more than capable of scaling building, detail classic cars, willingly engage in intelligent conversion devoid of chatspeak and concern themselves with helping and understanding the world around them, Nancy Drew is for lack of a better word, refreshing. Albeit rather inhibited and droll in certain parts, the film is not unlike it's protagonist: abrasive to those not on the same wavelength and curiously appealing in its personable idiosycrasies. " [More]

Heathers

Sex and Death 101 - Review
By mercurial in a filmblog
Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"With divine providence arriving neatly as an email in his inbox, Roderick Blank (Simon Baker) soon discovers that the powers that be have clued him into his future sexual proclivities and provided a list with the names of every person he will have sex with for the rest of his life. Scorned by a fetishisticly minded, abusive husband, Death Nell (Winona Ryder) becomes a champion of womanhood and embraces her own sadistic qualities as she leads the crusade / death march against those penis-wielding individuals that dare to scoff at the almighty power of the vagina. Together they amass a body count of victims (his orgasmic, hers comatose; i.e. Sex and Death 101) in this all too overwhelming slapstick, yet bordering romantic, comedy suffused with bits of erotica and horror that ultimately results in an putrid amalgam almost-could-have-been memorable film by that guy that made Heathers. " [More]

Ratatouille

Weekly Theme for July 7: Foodie ...
By mercurial in Weekly Theme
"Moving along from the depressingly bleak visions of man struggling to survive after the apocalypse, let's spend some time examining films that revolve around humankind's love of food in all it's myriad forms. We all know at least one scene from a film that involves food (from the orgasm sandwich in When Harry Met Sally to the beggars feast in Viridiana or the Chinese restaurant Christmas dinner in A Christmas Story etcetera), but let's discuss those lesser in abundance films in which the entirety of the plot focuses primarily on food. Recently, Ratatouille seemed to bring out the gourmand in a lot of people (similar to what Big Night did more than a decade ago) while No Reservations just seemed to turn everyone's stomachs. Waitress brought about renewed interest in the realm of baking (pies in particular) and Tim Burton's re-imagined Charlie and the Chocolate Factory once again sent everyone's sweet tooth into a diabetic coma. While it could be argued that every zombie movie could ... " [More]

The Last Man on Earth

Re:Weekly Theme for June 30: Po ...
By mercurial in Weekly Theme
"[quote user="unclefestering"] Not to be picky, but I always thought that Battle Royale took place in an alternate history of Earth where the Japanese Empire controlled all of Asia at the end of World War II. I wouldn't put that in the same category as living in the aftermath of the world's end. And if you are going to put Omega Man and I Am Legend on the list, I'd say you need to put the original film version, The Last Man on Earth, with Vincent Price as the scientist/hero/killer. [/quote] Yeah, I was probably stretching a bit with Battle Royale, but you have to admit that the film alludes to certain things that make it seem like the natural order has been destroyed and/or the world is trying to recover from some pretty apocalyptic shit. Nice call on the first I Am Legend adaptation, I haven't seen any of the three yet. " [More]

Southland Tales

Re:Weekly Theme for June 30: Po ...
By mercurial in Weekly Theme
"So many fun little features to choose from, where ever shall I begin? Undeniably the best (or just the most pervasive) films about living in a post-apocalyptic society are: Battle Royale The Matrix Mad Max, The Road Warrior & Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome 12 Monkeys & La Jetee Delicatessen & The City of Lost Children Those straddling the line with extreme lovers and haters: Reign of Fire Tank Girl The Omega Man I Am Legend The Day After Tomorrow Waterworld Akira Doomsday Southland Tales The Matrix Reloaded & The Matrix Revolutions And those that have been cast into the gallows of film history: Titan A.E. Aeon Flux (the movie, not the television series) The Postman Teenage Caveman Battlefield Earth Lastly, Wall-E, which is apparently the best movie ever. I haven't had a chance to see it yet. And The Road, which has yet to come out yet, but after having read the book I am utterly certain the film will be incredible. " [More]

The Sound of Music

Re:Pick a Pair
By mercurial in Movie Games
"I had to go one step further and do a triple feature: Nuns, Nuns, NUNS! The Sound of Music Nuns singing! Nuns laughing! Nuns thwarting Nazi's! Yay! Black Narcissus More realistic portrayal of good-hearted nuns mixed with some crazy ones. Dark Habits Tigers, lesbianism and heroin, Oh My! " [More]

Babel

Re:TOP 5 MOVIES TO TEACH AN ALI ...
By mercurial in Filmgaming
"Without knowing the specifics (their intellectual stylings, are they little green men or resemble earthlings?, etc.) here are the films I would expose the mysterious extraterrestrials to: 1.) Galaxy Quest - If they are just toying with us and waiting to decimate our planet, this will show them that it'll be pretty easy. If they are peaceful E.T.-like beings then it will show them a range of human emotion, the range of human technology, and our interest in understanding other worlds. 2.) History of the World, Part I - Face it, it's an hour and a half summation of human experience on Earth and a good representation of how humans act and perceive themselves. 3.) Xala - Might as well show them how corrupt and pathetic humans can be upfront. 4.) The Wizard of Oz - We're dreamers till the day we die so why not show them a fantastic exploration of hope, love and imagination that typifies us human beings. 5.) Babel - Very good recent example of life on Earth and th ... " [More]

Re:Criterion Newsletter Cartoons
By mercurial in Criterion Collection
"The cartoons have been a newsletter standard for a while now. In the newsletter archives on the Criterion site you can check them all out. Here's what the site says about them: A year of Criterion newsletters also means a year of wacky animals clueing readers in to upcoming releases. The animals don’t always come from the films they’re hinting about, but they do relate to movies somewhere in the Criterion catalog. So there it is. " [More]

Savage Grace

Savage Grace - Review
By mercurial in a filmblog
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Almost two decades after the stunningly beautiful Swoon, Tom Kalin makes his triumphant return to full-length feature filmmaking with Savage Grace. The scintillatingly perverse story of the Baekelands: Barbara (Julianne Moore), Brooks (Stephen Dillane) and Tony (Eddie Redmayne) struggling with their life of nonchalance and socializing with the glitterati around the world. Julianne Moore drives this uncomfortable yet enthralling depiction of a world without limits and societal mores, where Greek tragedy occurs before brunch and gritty true crime during cocktail hour. " [More]

Lists

Films I want to see (5075)
Films I want to see

Road Trip (30)
Hitting the open road.

Films I want to see A.S.A.P. (8)
Movies that I desperately want to see as soon as possible

Criterion Collection (471)
Movies that need to be seen: good or bad

Soundtracks & Scores (140)
Movies with great soundtracks and/or scores

Films I need to see again (289)
Movies that I have partially forgotten or just need another viewing before making a final decision

This Year (202)
Movies I've seen for the first time in 2008

Films I've seen (2889)
Films I've seen

Serial Killers, Inc. (334)
Movies that feature serial killers

Comic Books (125)
Films adapted from comic books

Privacy Safety Legal Report bad behavior