From Russia With Blood

I recently rented an interesting movie--Nochnoy Dozor
or Night Watch. It reminded me of several American
films, including The Matrix, Constantine, a bit of Harry
Potter and Underworld. There was also a unique quality
to it as well. The plot has to do with supernatural beings
having some nasty scuffles in Moscow-- that seems
worth a look, right?

Some of the cinematography seemed to quote David
Fincher movies (let's follow wires with the camera!) I
read a factoid stating that it is part of a planned trilogy.
Please Hollywood, don't remake this movie series. The
current version is very cool on its own. Be sure to check
the flipside of the DVD--the original Russian language
cut of the movie is there, with excellent "active" English
subtitles. The captions float in and out of scenes, change
color and pop up in odd places. Maybe after a few
viewings this will be annoying, but it was a great change
of pace from the generic approach.

* * *

As a sidenote, there is a movie out now that is not good,
but still a fun time. Beyond The Wall Of Sleep, based on
a very short story by H.P Lovecraft manages to be very
funny and creepy (see ReAnimator and From Beyond
for more of this good-badness). Follow these simple steps
to decide if this is a movie for you--
1. You know H.P. Lovecraft's work
2. You are tired of the same, overwrought horror movies
of this century
3. You don't mind throwing a small amount of money away
for a movie that seems to have been cobbled together
by a group of friends in their spare time (worked for The
Blair Witch Project and Peter Jackson's Dead Alive.)

I repeat--this is not a good movie, but for the H.P.L.
completists out there, it is a must-see.