And yet somehow, I don't think you've seen it.

Seriously guys. I mean, the movie looked interesting. It wasn't a bad movie, but it wasn't great either. Plus, you can't determine if it's a garbage film until you actually watch it. You might be surprised. The only time that rule doesn't apply is for Baby Geniuses 2: Superbabies. :wink:

I saw White Noise last night. Terrible, terrible movie. I'm all for a slow burn horror film, but the first hour of the film was just falt out boring. No scares, nothing interesting happening. Also, in order for a slow born horror film to work, you have to either enjoy or care for the characters. Michael Keaton was probably the least likeable and enjoyable lead i've seen in a long time.

The last half hour isin't any better, either. I was completely lost by the time the last frame rolled, as it seemed the director wanted to just edit together everything you'd see in a "scary" movie and call it a day. Seriously, what the fuck did a serial killer have to do with any of this? Any shred of credibility this film had leading up to that was lost with that reveal. The one positive this film had was the "look" of it. The director knows how to make a nice looking shot, and the lighting was pretty much spot on. Other than that, though, nada. Not scary in the slightest. I haven't been this bored during a horror film in a long, long time.

Welcome to the"Fast Food Style - Make A Quick Buck At Any Expense" world of Hollywood 2005!

Million Dollar Baby

Loews Georgetown 14
6:10 show, 500-seat auditorium, completely sold out.

Trailers
Assault on Precinct 13 (nada)
Cinderella Man (talking)
Be Cool (some laughs)
The Weather Man (laughter)
Hide and Seek (whispers)

Movie
Million Dollar Baby is a magnificent piece of cinema. It's as simple as that, really. It came very close to eclipsing Sideways as my choice for #1 film of the year, but I thought it had a few very slight flaws that prevented that from happening. Baby is one of those movies that (literally, in this particular case) seems to punch you in the gut. Clint Eastwood's last picture, the also magnificent Mystic River, left me with the same powerful, haunted feeling that this film does. I'm still reflecting and contemplating ideals of the movie despite it ending an hour ago. A lion's share of Million Dollar Baby's success must go to lead actress Hilary Swank, who completely immerses herself in the role and gives the best acting by a lead actress this year. Clint Eastwood himself is also very strong, and Morgan Freeman gives the movie his usual dose of quiet dignity. The one thing in Million Dollar Baby that I could've perhaps done without is the portrayl of a mentally retarded wannabe boxer played by Jay Baruchel, who comes off as perhaps too cartoonish. However, it's only a small section of the film. Baby taxes an unexpected twist in it's final 1/4, and it's easily one of the most emotional and truly sincere sections of a film in a very long time. Very highly recommended. A.

Hey man, good to see you back, and it's good to see we completely agree, though I honestly don't see how fellow horror fan The Dark Shape could possibly think this trash was better then The Grudge.

I saw Bad Education today at 11:15a show at Laemmle Sunset 7. It was about 10-13% out of 255 seats full. As for the movie, it was kinda good gay film, but it's been a little bit too acclaimed by many audience and critics alike (idk why they like it a lot).

I'd give it a B- or b/c of blanded opening scene and a little bit of dull directing and writing. But "B" is a better grade to fit thanks to acting and interesting scenes. Not recommended for those who are at least quite kinda conservative, esp. when they dislike nc-17, kinds of gay content, etc.

An hour later after getting out of a theater at 1:15, I saw a sign said that 2:20 show for "Finding Neverland" was sold out. Idk how many seats, but I think it ranges from 150-250 seats.

Just a heads up for next weekend...

We had our sneak for Coach Carter tonight at 7pm and had to show it in our 2 biggest theatres due to the fact the theatre we had it scheduled in sold out by 4pm, it was totally sold out by 6:45 for both theatres...

and everyone loved it that saw it

*shrug*

Because The Grudge was terrible. It had no story to make up for the lack of scares. White Noise, besides creeping me out with its use of the "three shadows" imagery, had an intriguing story that made me watch. The Grudge made me want to sleep. Essentially, I agree with the audiences I saw the films with - The Grudge was laughed off the screen and booed, and White Noise received some applause.

White Noise
11:40 PM
60% in a 250 seater

Trailers:
EleKtra
The Jacket
Cursed

Movie is decent. Good to see Michael Keaton after a long time. Ending seems geared towards a sequel.

B-

My Theater also sold out Coach Carter in our 250 seater, one hour in advance. We could have a mid range hit for this one.

Also, business at my theater went up 45% today (the average is 30% here), so the multipliers for movies could be higher, so that it can save alot of derby scores.

Yeah, White Noise had a good story... that went absolutely no where. I don't think i've ever seen a writer paint themselves into a corner as badly as the writer of White Noise did. Seriously, a serial killer? C'mon now. It's clear that the creative team behind this movie had no clue where to take the film past the basic premise, which was admittedly good. At least The Grudge knew what it was and embraced it.

And I honestly don't understand how this film creeped you out, Dark Shape. There is absolutely nothing more to this film than three or four empty jump scares that are so ridiculously telegraphed they fail to do even that.

The only thing worse than White Noised was the trailer for Cursed before it.

WHITE NOISE was a hell of alot better than all of you are not giving it credit for and Thank God it didn't resort to copying the lame and overrated The Grudge and The Ring and stood alone on it's premise.. The movie made sense just fine but as always, you people read too goddamn much into stuff for your own bloody good and because of that, you ruin it for yourselves.. What the hell wasn't made clear about this movie that you need to be made clear for Christ Sakes?? ](*,)

Honestly, it wasn't the huge plot holes and nonsensical story that bothered me the most with this movie. I can get past things like that. I am a horror fan, afterall.

It was the fact that the movie just goes absolutely no where for the first hour and fifteen minutes, and when something finally does happen, it involves a character and a plot line that has had nothing to do with the entire film up to that point.

I read a review for White Noise the other day that summed up another huge problem I had with the film (and also talks a little bit about why The Grudge is a better film). Here's a bit of it:

"Last year, one of the most effective horror movies to hit the theater was “The Grudge.” And after seeing “White Noise,” I realized what helped make “The Grudge” so effective.

In this age of computer wizardry, digital effects are too easy to do. You see them everywhere, bringing the industry to the point that they are so commonplace they are no longer cool. What was great about “The Grudge” is that they showed the ghosts from scene one. And they didn’t hide things. The ghosts were right there in your face. It was a real ballsy move.

But here in “White Noise,” they tried to hide the ghosts, only revealing them in flash frames and quick glimpses. It’s an effective set-up, but you’d better have one heck of a shocker at the end. When we have the final reveal in “White Noise,” the ghosts were laughable at best and downright lame and boring at worst. This is because there was no creativity to them. It was just some CGI animator throwing together a standard look for ghosts. Even the guttural shadow men from 1990’s “Ghost” were scarier."

Wrong.. The Grudge did well because it had a Cast from the WB Lineup, "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" in it that appeals heavily to teens, headlining the movie and that's the ONLY reason.. The Grudge like The Ring was as laughable as it gets and having Buffy in it was a sheer showcase for teens..., There wasn't anything wrong with the Ghosts in WHITE NOISE and that critic would've bitched anyways about it had it of been done his way anyway.. It boils down to the fact that Critics read far too much into this for their own good and that's there fault... I'm just tickled to death that the movie made far more and deservingly so for the weekend than critics pegged it out to be which was barely making 8-10 Million for the weekend like Box Office Guru predicted and proves even the Internet Film Critics miss the mark alot of the times.. This movie will probably wend up with 24 Million for the weekend and granted, I had it pegged at 40-45 Million and had it of opened up on as many screens as The Grudge did, it would've made that.. WHITE NOISE will achieve Cult Status when it arrives on DVD like The Butterfly Effect did..

Granted, SMG's appearance in The Grudge probably helped a little, but she's not exactly a big box office draw, either. The Grudge's success can be attributed more to the release date (around Halloween), the timing (the first ghost flick to come out after The Ring), and the fact that it was really good.

A for the box office succes of White Noise, I figured it would do well. It's the first horror film released in quite awhile, and it had a great marketing campaign. The tie in with the amzing show Ghost Hunters on the Sci-Fi channel leant an air of credibility to it. Funny, 'cause if the guy's from Ghost Hunters saw it, they'd probably tear it to pieces for exploiting the field and overdramatizing the EVP phenomenon.

I have no idea about White Noise - but The Grudge was one big dissapointment. I dont know how it received decent word of mouth. Regardless kudos to BKB on calling this one.

As for Coach Carter - good news! looks like it will do well.

That's not the reason I saw The Grudge. Considering it made a final gross of $110M, I doubt every single person was some teenager who went to see it because of Sarah Michelle Gellar.

The Grudge was a look-alike of The Ring, plain and simple. Also, it was released the week before Halloween, when people are in the mood for horror. There are no other reasons behind the success of The Grudge. White Noise made money because it's a horror movie that was very well marketed with a great trailer and premise.

By that logic, Jason Takes Manhattan is a good film because it knew what it was and embraced it. A terrible film's a terrible film. White Noise at least hooked me to the finale (which was ludicrous - and I called the twist! When a character has a camera focus on them for an extra long beat these days, I'm always suspicious). The Grudge was simply "Person A walks into house. Person A is scared to death. Person B walks into house. Person B is scared to death at home. Repeat as necessary." Anyone who's seen a few horror films in their life can call every single scare (without exaggeration) in The Grudge before it happens



The imagery more than the jumps, though I'll admit jumping the first time the tapes he's listening to go into "evil voice."



I was actually saved that little montrosity. Where Have Ye Gone, Ol Wes?

They should be marketing this one as a comedy, not a horror. I smell another Seed of Chucky.

The grudge was the scariest film ive ever seen.

I wish moviefans would just STOP speaking for the movie going public [because unless your god, you cannot know what everyones opinion or even the larger opinion of a film is unless your part of a national polling company or something]
and start speaking for themselves and their own opinion

Sorry for to be rude, but this is crowd reports/screen counts thread, not some 'horror/horror-to-be' talk in the coffeehouse. I know 'Grudge' and 'White Noise' may gave out different POVs, but it's better if you guys talk about these both films in another thread. Does it sound alright?

Ugh. The Grudge is the Friday the 13th to The Ring's Halloween -- it takes all the basic elements and fails with them, ripping out story and character in the process. The point is, up until its finale, White Noise is an effective film. The audience I saw it with was jumping all over the place (sometimes ridiculously, like when a radio comes on for no reason). I saw Grudge twice in theaters -- once at a week-early screening with my girlfriend, and once at the dollar cinema. Nobody seemed to remotely like the film.

And so I'll stick to my gun's -- like Friday the 13th, Grudge mimicks the earlier film's success, mainly because the audience wants a repeat of it. And also like Friday the 13th, it suffered a drop in both quality and box office. Anyone think Grudge 2 is going to make half as much as Ring Two?