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Matt Hone

Listed below are comments made by Matt Hone between Saturday, 18th April 2009 and Sunday, 27th December 2009.

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A Transformers Christmas Doohicky 9:35pm on 27 Dec 2009 Success. The only DVD I was given for Christmas was Clint Eastwood's excellent Gran Torino. It was given to me by my cousin, and she said it was pot luck, but what luck! The one film I've been wanting to watch again recently, and I didn't even mention this to anyone.
Christmas Movie Magic 9:03pm on 12 Dec 2009 I've never taken Mark for a cynic. After all, he has gone on record for saying how much he likes the High School Musical films, as well as the Jonas Brothers and Hannah Montana (though I do remember he had gripes with the latter). IAWL isn't any more mushy than those films are.
Paranormal Activity 8:47pm on 05 Dec 2009 I found the film disturbing, but I wasn't terrified of it. Maybe this was because I sat in a cinema where people were laughing, talking and just generally grunting. This prevented me from getting fully immersed in the movie, and I felt a sense of detachment. Perhaps if I had seen it home alone, it would have scared me more.

There were two things in the film that genuinely made my skin crawl. The first was the inky blackness of the hallway. I find the best horror films are those that make use of sound, and Paranormal Activity was excellent in that regard. Looking out into the hallway and seeing nothing, but hearing all manner of strange noises, was unsettling for me. There was also the whole Nietzsche thing about it too.

The other thing that got me was when she was dragged off down the hallway, screaming all the way. I wouldn't expect this to have fazed a horror film critic like yourself, Mark, because you'll have seen it many times before. But I'm not really that much of a horror fan, so I don't know all the cliches, and it was this part of the movie that affected me the most.
5 live review: Paranormal Activity 5:55pm on 30 Nov 2009 One small addendum: I wouldn't say I was scared by it, but I was certainly disturbed. My friend, however, is more interested in horror films than I am and he was very shaken by the whole film. We spoke about it today and he says he thinks it is because I am a sceptic about the supernatural, and he isn't. I can just tell myself, "It's only a movie", but he thinks that somewhere out there this stuff does happen. Just a thought.
5 live review: Paranormal Activity 5:52pm on 30 Nov 2009 Mark, I decided to go out and see Paranormal Activity with a friend after hearing your review. The fact that you said you liked it (but you weren't scared by it) put a lot of my worries to rest, but I was still somewhat sceptical, not knowing what to expect. But I greatly enjoyed the film. Big plus points for me go to the natural style of acting from the lead characters, excellent use of the darkness of the hallway to convey horror (several critics have pointed this out in their reviews), and a novel idea in speeding up the camera during the night sequences (please correct me someone if this has been done before).

The only negative I can think of is the redundancy of having a 'friend' character who does nothing to help the plot. Maybe the writer realised the implausibility of a young couple living together with no contact with the outside world, and the friend was there to show that, yes, occasionally others do visit. But I feel ultimately she had nothing to do and was only there to plug up a plothole.

I thought the ending was great, though. I thought it might end up with an exorcism, like so many other possession films do. But this film didn't, and was better for it.
The Tarantino Situation 9:47pm on 11 Aug 2009 Whoops, I just noticed I made a typo in my last post. 'Class' in the second sentence should be 'cast'.
The Tarantino Situation 9:46pm on 11 Aug 2009 I'll have to respectfully disagree, Dr. Kermode. I thought Jackie Brown was too long and too dull, even though it had a top notch class. However, we are both agreed that Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction were his very best, which he has yet to match. I did like the Kill Bill films though... they aren't classics, but they are enjoyable. I won't bother with the Grindhouse films though.
John Boorman: an exorcism 10:43pm on 04 Aug 2009 So, your most hated film is Exorcist II. Would Transformers 2 be your second, followed by the Pirates of the Caribbean movies? I'd be interested to know if you have a Roger Ebert-style 'Your Movie Sucks' list.
Damned if you Do: Michael Sheen and Me 10:46pm on 18 Apr 2009 I loved the aeroplane impression - oh and I also think your Gwynny and Renee impressions are spot on.
What you walked out of 9:56pm on 18 Apr 2009 I recently watched 'Wolf Creek' while at a friend's house. The option of just getting up and walking out wouldn't really have worked as my house was about a hundred miles away. If I had seen it in a cinema, I would have called it quits after one of the girls is thrust onto a meathook, breaking her back. Disgusting film, made for people who enjoy seeing young women raped and tortured to death.

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