THE MIST (2007) movie review

Mist, The (2007) d. Darabont, Frank (USA)

In the arc of Darabont’s screen treatments of Stephen King stories, this novella’s long-awaited cinematic incarnation falls somewhere in between the magnificence of The Shawshank Redemption and the not-badness of The Green Mile. Following a massive rainstorm, inhabitants of a small Maine village head to the local grocery store to stock up on supplies. Before their shocked eyes, they witness a strange fog enveloping their town and soon learn that there is something within the mist…something hungry.

BERBERIAN SOUND STUDIO (2012) movie review

Berberian Sound Studio (2012) (1st viewing) d. Strickland, Peter (UK)

Called to Italy to work on a new film, British sound designer Toby Jones finds himself immersed in increasingly strange environs. Even if not for the language and cultural barriers that separate the already shy and bookish professional from his colleagues, there exists an oppressive feeling of otherness; the other sound engineers find him uncooperative, the eccentric director refuses to have his exceptionally violent giallo referred to as a “horror film,” and the seemingly simple task of reimbursing Jones’ flight expenses becomes a Sisyphean labor no one seems willing to undertake.