10:43 AM
Watched Ravenous last night, and while I enjoyed the dark humor and thought it was a well-made movie, I had the same problem really getting into it enjoying it that I have with most horror movies: it was a movie about evil people surrounded by stupid people. I just don't enjoy spending my leisure time soaking in that kind of thing. Give me suspense instead of horror, where those who aren't evil (beyond the main character, please) at least have a chance against the evil and aren't just fodder. In some senses, the final fifteen minutes of Ravenous (and especially the third act surprise) really redeem it in that sense, though I'd much rather that good be able to beat evil on its own terms rather than being required to compromise to do so (though in this case it was the plot that required the compromise) -- pragmatism is easy; heroism is not.

Hopefully all of that makes sense to those who have seen the movie without ruining it for those who haven't. It's at least worth checking out.

But beyond checking out, something you should turn off your computer and go see right now, is Amelie. I've been hearing good things for months, and was pleasantly shocked to find that the movie was even better than my high expectations, leaping at a bare minimum into my top 20 favorite movies. Subtlty is the key to its quality: subtle joys (the pancake records, the magical groceries), subtle pains (the look on the face of the goldfish, the moment when Amelie realizes that fantasies only become more painful as they approach reality), subtle relationships, subtle dialogue, subtle effects (CGI like a feather dancing on the breeze of a great story rather than a sledgehammer driving unreality into your brain like a railroad spike)... I can't say enough good things about it.

Go. Go now and see it.

(I suspect this is the first and last time you'll ever see those two movies reviewed concurrently...)