Movie Night

It was better than the last movie my mom picked out, “Burnt Offerings” which had no burning and no offerings.

Ninety percent of it was a woman walking around naked. And somehow that was the least stupid part of the movie.

Scary Movies 2017

More Halloween spooktacular fun! This week: movies.

Hell House LLC

This is pretty standard found footage fare, but it does manage to bring with it some genuinely creepy moments. A group of people are documenting their creation of a Halloween house, which happens to take place in a notorious hotel. Creepy stuff starts happening, obviously. There’s nothing new here, but I liked it and would suggest giving it a try if you’re having a scary movie night.

The Void

This movie is pretty bad in terms of story, characters, acting, and pretty much everything else. Its one shining asset is the amazing special effects used to create the monsters. I would recommend this only because it’s watchable enough to endure so you can enjoy some really cool monsters. If you like eighties horror movies, this will be right up your alley.

Mr. Jones

Okay, if I’m being honest, I put this movie on the list because I have no idea what the hell it was about and I’m hoping that if someone else watches it, they’ll be able to figure it out. If it had more focus, it might have actually been good. The basic plot is that a couple discovers that a man living out in the woods is a mysterious artist who sends creepy figures to random people, something which is never really explained. Which…yeah, “never really explained” sums up most of the movie. You get some hints and some speculation, but not nearly enough. I’m not someone who needs every little thing explained in great detail, but something would have been nice. So skip it unless you want to see some creepy imagery.

Dark Skies

Probably the movie here that I most enjoyed. It’s a typical alien abduction story, this time involving a whole family, and it has some of the usual horror movie tropes, i.e. the dad refusing to accept that it’s true after everyone else has. But it’s still enjoyable and genuinely creepy at times, and everything about it felt well done. Definitely try it out.

I Am The Pretty Thing That Lives In The House

This Netflix original is about the caregiver of an elderly writer, but it’s also about the writer’s most famous novel, about a ghost that might very well live in the house. It’s, well, atmospheric. I guess that’s the best thing I can say about it. I liked it, but it’s probably not something I’d watch again, and I have to say I doubt a lot of people would enjoy it. If you want a gothic ghost story in the modern era, this is definitely it.

More Movie Reviews

Because sometimes I’m out of ideas for things to talk about.

Okay, most times.

All the time.

Cake

This movie stars Jennifer Aniston as a miserable chronic pain sufferer who’s having trouble not being a total asshole to everyone around her. Granted, she has reasons for being so unhappy, but she’s still pretty terrible to people. It’s both amusing and awful, and always entertaining. What I like is that the character is unlikable but not to the point where you absolutely hate her, and everything she does makes sense. You know exactly why she does what she does and is who she is, and at the end, you can understand why she’s taking some steps towards being happy. There’s no miracle cure for her, but she is at a point where she can really live.

Strangerland

This Australian movie stars Nicole Kidman and Joseph Fiennes as the parents of two children (not young children; they’re like twelve and fifteen) who have disappeared into the outback one day just before a dust storm. There isn’t much plot to it; instead, it focuses on the toll the disappearance has on the parents as they struggle to figure out what happened. There are no easy answers. In some cases, no answers at all. It’s a good movie, and definitely heart wrenching, but don’t expect to come out knowing what happened.

Whitewash

And now we’re going to Canada. It’s a bit of an international theme. The most I can say about this movie is that it’s confusing (mostly due to the anachronistic way it’s told) but I still liked it. It’s about a snowplow driver in Quebec who hits a man and tries to cover it up. Things of course get out of control and flashbacks reveal exactly what led up to the accident. Honestly, I’m not sure why exactly I liked it, just that I found it interesting. I’m always a sucker for character driven stories I guess.

Bluebird

The fourth and last movie in today’s set of drama films is Bluebird, about a bus driver whose distraction at a critical moment causes a boy to be left on her bus overnight during freezing temperatures. Again, it’s not story heavy. It’s mostly about how one small mistake can have devastating consequences for everyone, even those who aren’t involved. The boy is hospitalized in a coma he might not recover from, the driver, Lesley, basically fired, and their families have to decide what happens next. And that really isn’t easy.

Overall, really good movies if you want character studies. I would recommend all of them. I think they’re all still on Netflix, so if you have that, be sure to check them out.

Later!

Gone

<Gasp> Where am I?

I’ve gone to see a certain movie that came out last Friday. Back later. Don’t expect a real post. But I should be around later to comment on your blogs and stuff.

Yes. That’s right. It’s the new Alvin & The Chipmunks movie. You caught me. (PS that’s a blatant lie; you know what I’m going to see)

More Movie Reviews

What can I say? I like to watch movies. Mostly scary this time, because of course last month was October.

The Babadook

TL;DR: Woman finds a weird story book and reads it to her young son. Weird things start happening, adding to the stress of raising her hyperactive son. And then it gets worse.

I’m definitely ambivalent on this one. The horror is pretty good and I thought the characterization of Amelia, the overwhelmed single mom, was great, but yeah, it definitely has problems. I actually liked the ending, but I can see why other people don’t; in some ways, it’s a non-ending and you’re left with the feeling of not being sure what the hell happened, and not in a good way. Give it a watch if you’re in the mood for a very creepy first half, but you might end up being disappointed in the rest. Unless you’re really into symbolism.

The Mirror

TL;DR: Three roommates obtain a supposedly haunted mirror in order to prove that the supernatural exists. Things…don’t go well.

This movie was okay, though personally, I think Oculus did the whole haunted mirror thing better. I didn’t mind it, but it really didn’t leave much of an impression on me, like to the point that I don’t really have much to say about it. Still, it’s perfectly watchable and you might even like it.

Torment

TL;DR: Family goes out for a vacation at their country and when they wake up in the middle of the night to find their son is gone, they realize that someone is out there hunting them.

I would give this a solid seventy percent. It didn’t take any chances or do anything new, but it still managed to have a fairly interesting story. Probably the worst fault is that the end feels a little obvious. I also felt like there wasn’t enough explanation as to the motivations of the villains.

Creep

TL;DR: Videographer Aaron takes a job filming a dying man named Josef, who seems a little off. Then he seems really off.

I definitely liked this one, but I found myself constantly asking why Aaron was going along with what Josef wanted, especially as time went on and it became obvious that Josef wasn’t who he claimed to be. This is also a found footage movie, which is totally overdone but actually works here to enhance the creepiness. So if you can ignore Aaron’s questionable choices, then yes, watch it.

Time Lapse

TL;DR: Three roommates, Finn, Callie, and Jasper, discover that their dead neighbor has a camera that takes a picture of their apartment…one day in the future.

I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised by this movie. At first, I was so annoyed with the tropes that were appearing, especially involving Callie, only for those tropes to be turned completely on their heads. This was a brilliant picture and I definitely recommend checking out this twist on a time travel story. The ending was one of the best I’ve seen in a long time.

Movies

I like having Netflix. I really do. But I honestly think its rating system is backwards. I keep selecting movies with four or five stars and end up wanting to stick an ice pick in my brain to stop the stupidity from infecting it. Here is a select

Dead Silence

One of the guys who did Saw was behind this and I had heard good things on Tumblr about it. Those were all lies. It is terrible. It’s about this guy (who we might as well call Bland Whiteman because I sure as hell don’t remember his name) who’s convinced this ventriloquist dummy killed his wife and he goes back to his hometown to prove it, and Donnie Wahlberg is the detective who follows him because he obviously thinks that story is frigging crazy. The acting is poor, the plot nonsensical, and come on, if a dummy is trying to kill you, you set the thing on fire because it’s a dummy and you’re a human. And I really don’t think it’s scary, like at all. I’m not usually scared by horror movies anyway, but this one was especially dull. There are a few jump scares and some mild gore, but none of that is actually frightening.

Secrets in the Walls

Wow, this one was bad. Like, so, so bad. Like, it has a montage in it, that’s how bad and trope-filled it is. Jeri Ryan is a single mother of two girls gets a deal on a mysterious house because that’s always what happens and then really boring ghost stuff starts happening and everyone’s in denial about it even when it’s slapping them in the face, and OMG the acting is so bad, the writing is so bad, the dialogue is sooooooo bad. No one speaks like a person would. I think the script was turned out by a computer that just pulled scenes from other, better movies and then approximated human speech from average word usage.

After

Of the movies I’ve seen recently, this one is probably the best and that’s kind of sad. These two people, a man and a woman, meet while riding on a bus and then wake up in their home town completely alone. They do the only smart thing done in the movie and try to leave, but the town is surrounded by darkness that’s slowly consuming everything and just to make things interesting there’s a monster lurking out there because…I’m not really sure. It kind of has an explanation, but like most things in this movie it doesn’t really make sense. Like the fact that the main female character is a brunette with an accent, but flashbacks to her childhood show her has a blond girl without one. I feel like that sums up the entirety of the movie: they have explanations, but none of it makes any kind of sense. The romance between the two characters for example. Besides the fact that they have no chemistry at all, you find out something at the end (it’s a spoiler, so I guess I won’t go into details) that makes the two of them ending up together seem like the last thing that would happen.

Come Back to Me

Sometimes you can get away with the thing holding up your plot not being explained. But most of the time you can’t and this is no exception. The basic plot is that this creepy loner moves in across the street from this couple and shortly after, weird things keep happening to the woman. She’s obviously suspicious of the creepy neighbor and tries to figure things out, then she gets pregnant and her husband leaves her because he’s sterile and she goes to visit creepy neighbor’s mother and blah blah blah who cares? I sure don’t. None of these characters have anything resembling a personality and the plot isn’t interesting at all. It’s just like, “Here, this totally impossible thing is happening. What? You want to know how? Ha ha, no.” There was one genuinely good moment, the very end, and not even because the movie was finally over. I’m not going to spoil it—although no, it’s definitely not worth sitting through this mess for—but it was something that was a good twist (as in, not out of nowhere) and even with the non-explanation-y nature of the movie, actually made sense.

San Andreas
A bonus movie that’s actually out in theatres. Although probably not by the time you’re reading this. Because it’s terrible. I only went to see it because I have a friend who has a thing for The Rock and she didn’t want to go alone and I owe her and she apparently hates me. This movie was basically every single action movie ever. They didn’t try anything new, the characters weren’t fully realized, and it was predictable to the point hat I was able to guess what was going to happen right down to the dialogue. The special effects were cool looking, but not to the point that it’s worth buying a ticket. The one thing it has going for it is that the seismology expert they have going as a B story mentions you aren’t supposed to hide in a doorway during an earthquake but take cover under things, which is actually true. So kudos to you, movie, for getting that one right.

Anyway, that’s what I’ve been watching this month. What are you up to?

The Second One

I’m pretty sure my mother hates me because she said I had to watch Sharknado 2 with her. I don’t know why she’s so mean.

This movie was the most terrible of all movies, and that’s saying something because I saw the first one. First of all, um, hello? You can’t think of a better name than Sharknado: The Second One? They literally held a contest and that was the one they chose. Let that sink in for a minute. That is how much thought they put into this movie. When given a gigantic pool of names to choose from, they chose the one that represented just how little they cared about it. Anyway! Second, they had to have an increased budget, but apparently it all went towards cameo guest stars (I counted eight) because the sharks still looked made of CGI that would look bad on a Super Nintendo. So we going to do this?

It opens on a plane, where hero-made-of-awesome from the first movie, Finn, (I hate his name and want him to die) is going to New York City with his ex-wife-now-girlfriend Tara Reid. She probably has a name in the movie, but I don’t know what it is. And you know what happens? To this guy who survived the impossible Sharknado but somehow existing from the first one? He looks out the window, where it’s storming outside, and sees a f**king shark. But not before Kelly Osburn appears as a flight attendant to gush all over him for being so damn awesome (seriously, half of this movie is people telling him how great he is).

My mom actually said, “Maybe he’ll look outside and see something on the wing of the plane like William Shatner on that episode of The Twilight Zone.” And no sooner does she say that than that actually happens, although it just crashes into the wing instead of…whatever that gremlin thing was trying to accomplish. Meanwhile, in the flight cabin, the sharks start splattering on the window and one breaks in, isn’t dead somehow, and eats the copilot. And the captain, figuring she’s more important than the plane full of people, tries to save her and he gets killed.

The plane starts falling and even though the cockpit is supposed to be secure, the door flies open and Finn sees there’s no one flying the plane. Because he’s the most heroest hero in all herodom, he makes is way to the front (the plane is still falling!) and takes the wheel. Throttle. Whatever it’s called. Now, entire chunks are being ripped out, but except for the few people who are eaten by the sharks that fall through, not many actually die. Tara Reid of course has to be with Finn, so she crawls to the front and is attacked by a shark. The sky marshal throws her a gun, but the shark just eats her hand. All the while, she keeps screaming this toneless, almost bored “Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah. Aaaaaaaaaaaah.” Even when her hand his eaten she doesn’t do more than raise a decibel.

Anyway, the plane lands and Tara Reid has to go to the hospital to be treated by Doctor Billy Rae Cyrus. But there are other people who have to be saved: Finn’s sister’s family, which includes that guy from Sugar Ray, a girl with stupid hipster glasses, and a boy I assume is supposed to be the quiet, smart type but who really doesn’t do anything in the movie. Mom and hipster girl are off seeing the statue of liberty like some tourists despite being NYC natives, and Sugar Ray and the boy are at a Mets came that’s surprisingly well attended considering that it’s the Mets. Finn calls his sister and tells her the Sharkpocalypse is coming (see how hard that was SyFy? Two frigging seconds that took me!), and she tells him Sugar Ray turned his phone off and has to be rescued from the game with Vivica A. Fox and some guy that gets killed in a few scenes so he doesn’t matter. The game is rained out by sharks and they run to the subway. By the way, tons of product placement here. Every other scene had a big Subway sign somewhere. Once that Jared guy was even there and he went “Eat fresh” for some reason.

They get into a cab driven by the only white, Jewish cab driver in New York (played by Judd Hirsch, because it wasn’t enough for them to wreck what was left of John Heard’s career they had to have his, too). Finn of course wants to throw bombs in the tornados so they all run around and grab weapons and things to make bombs. By the way, Judd Hirsh says there’s no “gun stores” in New York City. Right. Sure.

So they grab their make shift weapons, and meanwhile Matt Lauer and Al Roker are surprisingly chipper as they report that sharks are falling from the sky, and Finn’s sister and hipster girl are running through the city and literally everyone they come in contact with gets eaten by a shark. Or just crushed by the rolling head of the Statue of Liberty. But they get some of those rental bikes and manage to get to the hotel where they planned to meet with the others. Except for poor Judd Hirsch who got eaten by sharks, too.

Meanwhile again, Tara Reid, despite having her hand chewed off, decides to leave the hospital instead of hide in the basement and get doped up on morphine. But she does stop to put on lipstick before she leaves.

Finn and Vivica A. Fox go up to the top floor of that hotel and try slingshotting bombs into the sharknado, which fails, as it should. But it does catch all the sharks on fire so now it’s not just raining sharks (two inches an hour, according to the weather report…I still haven’t figured out WHAT THAT’S SUPPOSED TO MEAN), it’s raining flaming sharks. They start running down the stairs to escape them while the rest of the group is running up the stairs to escape the flood of sharks somehow climbing up them. I…this movie physically hurts me.

Finn of course saves everyone again and Tara Reid rides up in a fire truck. Maybe they mentioned the meet-up spot to her earlier, but I don’t remember it, and anyway, I have no idea how she convinced the fire department to drive her out there.

Next—and I’m not making this up at all—they meet up with the mayor, who literally begs Finn for his help. And after giving everyone a rousing speech, he and Vivica A. Fox go to do some one hundred percent bullsh!t thing that will magically stop the sharknados. Tara Reid, despite having had her hand just ripped off, gets that bland kid to make her a buzz saw arm so she can go after them and save them or whatever. So they do the bullphooey and Vivica A. Fox sacrifices herself to save everyone, not that anyone seems to give a crap, seriously, they don’t even mention her again, and Finn gets launched into the sky where he fights with a chainsaw the mayor gave him. So he’s flying around in the sky and chainsawing sharks and he rides one down and skewers it on the lightning rod on top of the Empire State Building. But he’s not safe yet and he has to climb down and fight more sharks and he reaches inside one and pulls out Tara Reid’s hand, which is still holding a gun.

I mean, frigging hell, that’s even more unlikely than the last movie, when he was swallowed by the same shark that ate that stupid waitress and he chainsawed his way out of it and rescued her. And what does he do but take the ring off the severed hand and propose to Tara Reid, because that’s about as romantic as telling her “I know you wanted to give me a hand, but this was ridiculous” when she was in the hospital. Which he really did. I can see why she divorced him.

This movie…it manages to be more egregious to science and common sense than the last one. But as bad as the last one was, at least it wasn’t constantly talking about how awesome Finn was and he’s the only one who can save everyone. The acting is just as bad, with Finn mistaking screaming for acting and Tara Reid sounding like she’s struggling not to yawn throughout the whole thing. I have to admit, the celebrity cameos were funny, and not so-bad-it’s-good funny, but real funny, and I’m surprised that a production team that doesn’t even manage to choose a decent title put effort into something. Honestly, you can only enjoy this movie if you like awful wrapped in terrible and then sautéed with a thick butter of stupid. Also seasoned with plot holes.

Well, that’s it. The most comprehensive review of Sharknado 2 that you’ll find. On this blog. Enjoy your terrible movie. I suggest bringing alcohol. Lots of alcohol.

The Good, The Bad, And The Nonsensical

I was browsing around the blogosphere (holy crap, Word says blogosphere is a word) when I saw someone talking about the implausibility of something. It probably had to do with The Walking Dead. I mean, it usually does. Anyway, it got me thinking: how much must belief be suspended before something becomes unlikeable?

Obviously the threshold is different for different people, and sometimes one part of a movie/book/show can be enjoyed while the other isn’t, which is the only reasonable explanation for how the above mentioned The Walking Dead still exists. For example, sometimes in that show you see cool, gory zombies. But then the characters start talking and I get all screamy at the television.

It also depends on how well done something is. For example, I went to see the latest Die Hard movie (don’t ask me the title, I don’t remember) and as breathtaking as the twenty-minute car chase was, I regret the money spent on that turd bomb. Nothing that happened made sense. [WARNING: Spoilers ahoy. But only if you actually are worried about the plot of that Die Hard movie and really. Really. Are you? Didn’t think so] First of all, if you’re trying to break someone out of prison it might seem like a good idea to get arrested yourself by murdering someone, but, hello? You freaking murdered someone. It’s the kind of thing that causes a butt load of bad feelings between countries with already strained relations. So it’s kind of a stupid idea. There’s no way they’d let a CIA operative get a free pass for that. And the saddest part? That’s only one example of why that movie is a betrayal to American storytelling.

But while Die Hard 5 had nothing to redeem its leaps of common sense, several movies with equally unlikely situations are still good. The Hunger Games had a few iffy spots, but I still liked it—although there are plenty of people who didn’t. Again, The Walking Dead is another good example of something I can’t discern the appeal that gives it such a powerful following.

So there are good things, there are bad things, and there are things that some people like and some people hate. Ever been to Rotten Tomatoes? It’s basically that, but you can see how other people voted. They really need one of those for books.

Quick Reviews

Here’s some more quick reviews. I included movies this time because I’ve been watching a lot of them lately, and why not? A good movie is just as valuable as a good book. And just as hard to come by ; ).

The Maze Runner

Story: 8 Characterization: 6 Writing: 7

Very good book. The premise is interesting. A bunch of 12-18 year olds trapped in the center of a maze full of monsters, no memory of how they got there, desperate to find a way out. I have to admit, though, I didn’t feel much connection to the main character. I actually thought others were better defined and they weren’t even POV characters. Thomas was a bit too good at everything for my taste. No, he wasn’t always right but he was always close enough that it was a little annoying.

Kill Alex Cross

Story: 2 Characterization: 1 Writing: 1

You know what? Don’t tease people like this, James Patterson. I started reading this book in hopes that my greatest fantasy was at long last coming true, but for some reason Alex Cross is still in the damn book. SPOILER ALERT: he’s not even dead. Frigging waste of time.

A Good Day to Die Hard

Story/Writing: 2 Characterization: 2

Is there a word for something that’s both terrible and awesome at the same time? Because this is it (seriously, we should start calling it a Die Hard). The dialogue and story were atrocious, like the writer hammered it out in two hours after a weekend of binge drinking. But the action scenes were frigging amazing. There was a car chase that lasted twenty minutes—no hyperbole there. Twenty minutes of smashing cars, explosions, and a freaking missile being fired. I hope they release a version where all the talky bits are edited out and we can just watch a solid hour of explosions.

Mama

Story/Writing: 10 Characterization: 10

Very good. It’s not often you see a scary movie that, when things aren’t being scary, they’re dealing with real problems. Unlike the above mentioned Die Hard, Mama is well-crafted, with actual characters, yet it manages to be its core genre at the same time. If you like scary movies or well-written movies (and don’t mind jump scenes), try it out.

Random Thoughts

---Yeah, another one. My creativity is being spent editing, so here you go.

---There were several things I hoped I’d never see. A Rocky musical is one of them. 

---If I ever can’t find the remote, I look under the cat and it’s there. I don’t know why she insists upon lying on it when there are plenty of warm, soft places for her to sleep.

---In some languages (like French, Spanish, and Italian), the term for roller coaster is “Russian Mountains,” a reference to what is considered to be the first one. But in Russian, the term for roller coaster is American Mountains.

---When I run out of ideas on what to do for posts, I do a post on what to do when you run out of ideas for posts.

---Also, I make lists a lot.

---A river in a river. Actually, I think it’s inside a lake. Either way, that hissing sound you’re hearing is your brain deflating.

---I was watching Predator the other day. Not the best movie, but enjoyable. Did you know Jean-Claude Van Damme was in it? He played the Predator in one scene. Then he was replaced, allegedly because they wanted someone taller, but I think we all know that it was because he’s just unable to act, even as an invisible character.

---I also watched Predator 2, another meh-but-enjoyable movie. It also has the distinction of having a black character that not only doesn’t die, but is the main freaking character! Can you name any other horror/action movies that can boast that?

---Note: nothing with Will Smith counts. Come on. That’s too easy.

---“Study confirms most of us go online for no reason.” No. Really?!

---I mean, you’re all here, aren’t you?

And here’s the bonus:

I think somebody was cold, because that’s my quilt that she crawled under. And arranged as a nice little hidey spot.

Random Thoughts: The Return

Yes, it’s this time again. You know, the time when I run out of ideas and it’s not a theme day so I have to reach into my post vault and bring out…I don’t know, whatever I can find.

---I had that dream again last night.

---No, not really. I was watching Childrens Hospital as I wrote this and that’s one of the one-liners thrown out by the guy hospital loudspeaker, “Sal Viscuso.” He’s voiced by Michael Cera.

---That’s supposed to be a reference to M*A*S*H, who I think had the same name for their announcer. I don’t really know because I’ve never seen that show. It was off the air before I was born.

---The murder rate in Norway is less than one murder per year. Do they just decide, “eh, it’s too cold out to carry out my murderous rage”?

---Keep in mind, this is also the birth place of death metal. I kind of wonder if these things are linked.

---Don’t ask, don’t tell was finally repealed. And it’s about damn time, too. I think detractors against the repeal used the same arguments as they did to keep out women (too “distracting”). Honestly, if you’re that worried about your fellow soldier checking out your ass in the middle of combat, you’re probably not a very focused soldier to begin with.

---There are people complaining the repeal is part of a larger gay agenda. And they’re right; it’s a larger gay agenda towards equal rights. Crazy to think these people want to be treated like people. 

---At the time of the tone, it will be half past infinity. 

---More snow. Damn it. I bet there’s going to be another spike in births in September, too.

---There was once a joke on Family Guy about “the fat kid from Stand By Me” (aka Jerry O’Connell) marrying Rebecca Romijn. What they neglect to mention is how handsome he grew up to be. Seriously, I saw him on an old episode of Without A Trace and almost choked.

---I’ve probably said this before, but it’s worth repeating: anyone who suggests you watch The Human Centipede is a bad, evil person. Run from them now.

---John Steinbeck is said to have based the Hamilton family of his EAST OF EDEN on his mother's family. A small boy named John Steinbeck is even a minor character in the novel.

---Nine out of ten times, Futurama takes the time to be accurate with its science. That’s higher than shows that claim to be fact based.

---Despite claims to the contrary, a couple, each with blue eyes, can have a child with brown eyes. My nephew is actually proof of this since he has brown eyes, his father has blue and his mother, green.

---BEEEEEEEEP.

Based on the Short Story By…

Short stories don’t get enough credit.

Back in college, one of the best classes I took (okay, the best class I took) was a short stories class. But not just any short stories. No, this one focused on stories turned into movies. I was surprised how many short stories became movies that were, in many cases, vastly different than their source material. In other cases, I was just surprised that there was source material.

Here, let me show you what I mean. Movies that have been made based on short stories. Warning this list contains spoilers and is full of my own opinions:

The Sentinel -> 2001: A Space Odyssey; Arthur C. Clark also wrote a novel at the same time as the screenplay for 2001 but the original idea came from a short story about astronauts finding a strange artifact of alien origin on the moon. Once they crack the force field, the narrator wonders if whoever placed it there will return to see who broke the device and whether or not they will be benevolent. Both novel and movie expand on this brief scene with monoliths that may or may not spurn advances in humanity.

The Birds -> The Birds; by Daphne Du Maurier. The short story is, on the surface, different from its source. The best you can say is Alfred Hitchcock read the story and took the idea of attacking birds from it, brought it to California and made up his own cast. Don’t get me wrong; it’s a good movie! But the short story has its own charm, one the lovers of the movie might not recognize.

It Had to be Murder -> Rear Window; by Cornell Woolrich. Yes, another adaption by Hitchcock. Unlike the above, this one is very close to the source material. The major difference is the addition of the love story angle, not surprising considering even now Hollywood likes, well, Hollywood endings. In the story, we learn the specifics (okay, Jeffries’ theories) on the why and how of the murder. Things in the movie seem a little glossed over, and there’s a lot more build up.

Memento Mori -> Memento; by Jonathan Nolan. This is interesting because the short story and film were written simultaneously and done by the Nolan brothers. However, Jonathan, not Christopher, came up with the main story idea and so I consider the movie derived from the story. Both contained the same basic premise: a man has anterograde amnesia, the result of an attack where his wife was murdered. In order to function, he has to write notes to himself and the notes convince him to seek out and kill the murderer. Obviously, the movie has more details. But it’s more about the search, whereas the story is about overcoming the no-short-term-memory enough to do it. In both cases, the main character uses it to trick himself into doing something (murder/escape).

The Minority Report -> Minority Report; by Philip K. Dick. Like The Birds, this one is taking the idea of the story and running in another direction with it. Can one really be punished for a crime they haven’t committed yet? The question is part of both movie and story, although the former is based around revenge and justice. I find the movie to be a little trite and a lot preachy (I mean, I get it; he’s been future-framed and that means Precrime is a lie). The story however, ends with the total opposite. Anderton commits the murder in order to save what he worked so hard to build up! He doesn’t really have anything against the man he kills. It’s just what he thinks is the moral thing to do, which makes me wonder about the shift of ethics over time.

And there are many, many more. I’m only going into detail here because I haven’t seen the movie, read the story, or don’t remember it well enough to discuss.

Anyway, my final word is this: short stories are great inspirations. They’re also great on their own.