"Lockout" and "Cabin In The Woods"

[JD10367]

Saw two movies this morning which open tomorrow.

1.) "Lockout": mildly entertaining if unoriginal (think "Escape From New York" in space, with the President's daughter instead of the President). Nothing to write home about, but it'll kill 90 minutes.

2.) "Cabin In The Woods": two words... f***ing awesome. Hilarious, gory enough (although not blatantly), and different. I sat in an empty theater by myself and still laughed and clapped. One of the few movies I want to watch again, with a crowd. Joss Whedon FTW. (And watch for "Buffy" alumni cameos.)

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

These next couple of weeks are probably the slowest time at the movies.......everyones just sort of holding back product until the big summer months.

I disagree. Thanks mainly to "The Lorax" and "Hunger Games", it was the biggest March ever, I think. Couple that with "Titanic 3D" coming out, and "American Reunion", if "Cabin In The Woods" and "Lockout" and "Three " can get a bit of a roll going it'll be a nice April, too. Not much next week, but the end of the month sees "Safe" and "The Raven" (and "Pirates" will probably nab kiddie-ticket sales).

Then you have May... not a summer month by any means, but starts with "The Avengers", then "Dark Shadows" the following week, "The Dictator" the third week, and finishes with the suspense flick "Chernobyl Diaries" and "Men In Black 3". That will probably be the best May ever.

June is also strong: "Snow White and the Hunstman"; "Prometheus"; "Madagascar 3" (kids); "That's My Boy" (Sandler fans); "Rock Of Ages"; "Brave" (Pixar); "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" (might turn out good, might flop); "GI Joe: Retaliation" (trailer actually looks decent).

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by JD10367

I disagree. Thanks mainly to "The Lorax" and "Hunger Games", it was the biggest March ever, I think. Couple that with "Titanic 3D" coming out, and "American Reunion", if "Cabin In The Woods" and "Lockout" and "Three " can get a bit of a roll going it'll be a nice April, too. Not much next week, but the end of the month sees "Safe" and "The Raven" (and "Pirates" will probably nab kiddie-ticket sales).

Then you have May... not a summer month by any means, but starts with "The Avengers", then "Dark Shadows" the following week, "The Dictator" the third week, and finishes with the suspense flick "Chernobyl Diaries" and "Men In Black 3". That will probably be the best May ever.

June is also strong: "Snow White and the Hunstman"; "Prometheus"; "Madagascar 3" (kids); "That's My Boy" (Sandler fans); "Rock Of Ages"; "Brave" (Pixar); "Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter" (might turn out good, might flop); "GI Joe: Retaliation" (trailer actually looks decent).

I meant the last two weeks of April are slow for new releases traditionally.

[KcMizzou]

I look forward to seeing "Cabin In The Woods". Ive read that you should avoid spoilers at all costs.

It's at 91% on RT. That's crazy for a horror movie.

[NewChief]

Here's a good review of "Cabin in the Woods" that avoids spoilers while doing a good job of communicating what makes the movie interesting:

Edit: Put in spoiler tags because, according to JD, it gives too much of the movie away.

Spoiler!

http://www.salon.com/2012/04/13/pick...orror_puzzler/

Pick of the week: Joss Whedon’s horror puzzler
Pick of the week: "The Cabin in the Woods" gives the tired teen-splatter formula an ingenious post-"Scream" twist
BY ANDREW O'HEHIR

Kristen Connolly in "The Cabin in the Woods"

TOPICS:OUR PICKS: MOVIES, MOVIES, SCIENCE FICTION AND FANTASY, JOSS WHEDON
So here’s the situation with Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard’s mashed-up horror movie “The Cabin in the Woods”: It’s complicated. I’m recommending that you rush out and see it, but not altogether because I think it’s so totally great and completely works. Quite a bit of it is great, and most of it works, and the stuff that clicks is outrageously entertaining and funny, sometimes with surprising depth. But I also want you to see it so we can argue about what works and what doesn’t, and discuss the so-called surprise twist, which in-the-know, Whedonverse-type people will already completely have down but which I still shouldn’t really talk about.

See, “Cabin in the Woods” is a self-knowing horror movie that is partly about a group of college students behaving like dumb-asses and unleashing unknown terrors at an isolated mountain retreat full of secrets, and partly about what it means to make that kind of movie and tell that kind of story. And if you’re rolling your eyes right about now and saying, “Oh no, another damn movie that’s too clever for its britches,” well, that’s OK too. Because Whedon (creator of “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly”), who produced and co-wrote the screenplay, and his longtime collaborator Goddard, who co-wrote and makes his directing debut here (after writing “Cloverfield”), have that angle covered.

Furthermore, if you’re thinking that Whedon and Goddard’s title sounds more like a category of movie than a specific movie, you’re absolutely on the right track. You can probably guess who the characters are before I describe them: There’s the studly athletic Curt (Chris Hemsworth of “Thor” fame), along with his borderline slutty girlfriend, Jules (Anna Hutchison), and you can be pretty sure what’s going to happen to them, right? There’s the reserved, bookish, decent Holden (Jesse Williams of TV’s “Grey’s Anatomy”), and the baked stoner Marty (Fran Kranz), who sees patterns and conspiracies everywhere he looks. Last but not least there’s Dana (Kristen Connolly), the shy and awkward brunette who’s being set up with Holden even though she’s not sure she wants to be — and if you’ve ever seen a horror movie in your life, you don’t need me to explain her role.

But even before this quintet heads out into the wilderness for a little relaxation and invocation of demons — even before they blithely ignore the crazy old guy at the rural gas station who warns them that if they drive up that durn road they won’t be driving out again — we can tell there’s another level to this whole business. (I’m not crossing the spoiler line here, I promise.) In the very first scene of the movie, we see Richard Jenkins and Bradley Whitford (Josh Lyman from “The West Wing”) playing a couple of wisecracking salarymen in shirts and ties, classic supporting characters from some workplace comedy. Except that their workplace appears to be some kind of panopticon command center, from which they can observe and even manipulate our five idiotic protagonists as they launch themselves into horror-movie hell.

Without getting into specifics, it’s clear that Sitterson (Jenkins) and Hadley (Whitford) have seen this show before. They watch with the knowing, slightly bored gaze of aficionados, who feel pretty sure how things are going to end up but can’t help getting a little bit invested in the story as it goes along. At one point, Hadley sighs (prophetically, as things turn out), “Yeah — but I just think it would have been cooler with mermen.” As more details about their workplace are revealed, they even conduct a vigorous betting pool on what exact fate will befall the five sacrificial in that eponymous cabin. What is the nature of Sitterson and Hadley’s investment and involvement? And what’s the connection to various other horror-movie scenarios they can watch playing out around the world on their monitors? (I especially like the schoolgirl nightmare streaming live from Japan, which appears to combine “The Ring,” “The Grudge” and a few other Asian delights.)

Well, that’s the game, of course — but it’s a mistake to think of “Cabin in the Woods” as nothing more than a secret that’s waiting to be revealed. Much of the fun, not to mention a whole lot of splatter, comes after the central premise has become clear, when the archetypal teen victims declare their independence, and begin to fight back against their narrative enslavement. Whedon’s great strength (and occasionally his great weakness) is that he identifies so strongly with his fans, and “Cabin” is loaded with all sorts of references and in-jokes for horror buffs, beginning of course with the “Evil Dead” series but proceeding through a full range of the gruesome, the gothic and the grotesque. I honestly believe that I could tell you right now exactly what influences he and Goddard have combined in this script, and it wouldn’t “ruin” your experience or any such thing. But that’s a discussion for another time, and no, I’m not going to do it.

For a mid-budget production, the effects in “Cabin in the Woods” get pretty delirious, as the universes of the trapped teens and bored functionaries collide with disastrous consequences. Goddard’s direction strikes me as capable, direct and not especially showy, which is a pretty strong endorsement for a movie as high-concept as this one is. (He has the aid of veteran cinematographer Peter Deming, who shot “Drag Me to Hell,” “Evil Dead II,” “Mulholland Drive” and three of the four “Scream” films.) The cast are all game for their archetypal parts, especially Jenkins, Whitford and Fran Kranz as the indomitable pothead who figures out that things are not always what they seem, man. Other credited parts include the Werewolf Wrangler, the Dismemberment Goblins, and Fornicus, the Lord of Bondage and Pain. And in the end, Hadley is right: It is cooler with mermen.

[KcMizzou]

Sounds awesome.

[WhiteWhale]

I'm not a fan of Whedon. I knew he was working on a project called 'Cabin in the woods' so as soon as I saw the trailer I had a bit of a bias.

Except after I saw the trailer I had to admit the movie looked really cool. I'm definitely gonna see it.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by NewChief

Here's a good review of "Cabin in the Woods" that avoids spoilers while doing a good job of communicating what makes the movie interesting:

Uh, actually, no, that pretty much explains the whole frigging movie. If I hadn't seen it yet I wouldn't even have wanted to know that much.

[lcarus]

Yeah I wanna see these sometime. Probably wait for dvd/blu-ray. I don't go to the theater anymore really. The only thing I'll probably see in the theater is the new Batman, and given the popularity I'll probably wait a couple weeks. I hate over crowded theaters.

[Deberg_1990]

Originally Posted by WhiteWhale

I'm not a fan of Whedon. .

I wasnt really a Buffy fan, but Firefly and Dollhouse really won me over.

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by JD10367

Uh, actually, no, that pretty much explains the whole frigging movie. If I hadn't seen it yet I wouldn't even have wanted to know that much.

Okay. Will put in spoilers, then.

[JD10367]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I wasnt really a Buffy fan, but Firefly and Dollhouse really won me over.

The first season of "Buffy" is a bit slow, but after that it really picks up.

[Frosty]

Originally Posted by Deberg_1990

I wasnt really a Buffy fan,

You just made Gaz cry

[Valiant]

I liked it.. It need more nudity for a R rating it had..

Lots of former memorable actors in the movie.. Did it show anything past the credits? I did not stay..

[beach tribe]

Is there any way you can post a spoiler for WTF is going on in Cabin in the woods?
Please?

[beach tribe]

Originally Posted by JD10367

Uh, actually, no, that pretty much explains the whole frigging movie. If I hadn't seen it yet I wouldn't even have wanted to know that much.

Nevermind.