High-Tech Jacket Makes This More Vivid

The film critic explains why movie lists are awful

(NEWSER) - Lots of critics have dutifully supplied their top-10 lists of horror movies in time for Halloween. Not so Roger Ebert, who instead used the time to compile an essay on why he hates the exercise, at this time of year or any other. "No list of films has the slightest significance, unless it involves box-office receipts," he explains in the Wall Street Journal . OK, maybe one—the once-a-decade effort from British film magazine Sight & Sound. More»

It's all about the creative casting of an extra

(NEWSER) - Alfred Hitchcock didn't like to use sleight-of-hand to mislead viewers, but he did so in perhaps his most famous scene—the shower murder in Psycho, writes Steve North in Salon . (And if spoiler alerts apply after 50 years, here it is.) That's not Tony Perkins in drag wielding the knife. Hitchcock used a noticeably larger extra because he was afraid Perkins' slight frame would be too easy to recognize in silhouette—and thus people would know all about Norman Bates only a half-hour into the film. More»

Even naked Christina Ricci can't save ambiguous horror flick

(NEWSER) - Critics are absolutely burying After.Life, a dull horror flick about a woman who may be dead. And no, the stupid dot in the title is never explained. Here’s what they’re saying:

• What seems like it ought to be a vaguely silly movie “takes itself so seriously it’s practically embalmed,” writes Stephen Whitty of the Star-Ledger . Liam Neeson in particular “seems to have convinced himself that he’s in some rare, rediscovered Beckett play—Krapp’s Last Autopsy.”

These film plots are so ridiculous, they deserve props

(NEWSER) - Some movie plots are so absurd, you have to award credit for achieving a spectacular level of ridiculousness. Based on the title alone, it’s obvious Hot Tub Time Machine (trailer at left) fits into this category. Here are nine more from Olivia Allin of The Frisky :

• Snakes on a Plane: Again, the title alone is enough to land this Samuel L. Jackson flick on the list.
• I Know Who Killed Me: “This movie is a great reminder that if you’re having really weird memories and feel like you have a split personality, you might just have a stigmatic twin you didn’t know about and could be suffering sympathetic resonance from her plights.” Right.

The answering machine, the broken cell phone, the lack of GPS...

(NEWSER) - Ever notice that movie trailers are constantly employing the record scratch sound effect—even though today’s youth have no clue what that sound actually is? "Pop culture has shown no inclination to discard obsolete tropes simply because they are obsolete," writes Adam Sternbergh, who points out five other cinematic offenders in New York :

• Answering machines: Hey, if the protagonist were to use voicemail, how ever would the audience hear the serial killer’s scary message?
• X-rays: Nowadays, X-rays are displayed digitally, on a screen. But hanging a big, floppy piece of film on a light board is so much more dramatic!