Gf not around so was on a DVD-watching spree:-

Diary of the Dead - Surprisingly, such a quick follow-up to Land of the Dead, even though Romero is known to drag his heels in between the sequels. This is easily the "Blair Zombie Project". Is it a return to form? Not really. It is slightly better than Land but doesn't hold up much to Dawn or Night or even Day. The gore, however, is top-notch and hilarious at parts (or maybe they're just funny to sick old me). The splatter is more inventive than Land and more up-front rather than being part of the scenery. The commentary on alternative mass media (the Web) and objective reporting is a new angle although hardly ground-breaking. The juddery hand-held shots also takes some getting used to. And the narrative is merely Romero mind-masturbating, pensive and meditative it may be. Next!

Ginger Snaps Back : The Beginning - Had high hopes for this, as the first movie was snazzy and replete with sharp witticisms in the repartees between the two sisters. However, this is just serviceable. It transports the story back to Puritan times. More upfront is the preacher and God-bashing. I totally dislike the Native American mumbo-jumbo and mysticism but otherwise, not such a bad watch. The sets also look remarkable, like something from a Stephen Bissette (Swamp Thing comics artist) drawing.

Le Cercle Rouge - Just to complete my Melville collection. Hardly as stylish as Le Samourai or as engaging as Le Doulous, this one does have an elaborate heist sequence which is quite a spectacle. At the very least, the story moves at a fair pace and Alain Delon is a marvel to watch, where he shows some race morphing abilities, looking Chinese in certain scenes and Indian in others. Ha ha ha. Otherwise, the story hardly befits the esoteric quote in the beginning, unlike Le Samourai.

Nosferatu (1922) - This one is awesome. A rather belated watch. Everytime I see its title somewhere, it's like "heck! it's Herzog not Murnau". Very nice to see where it all began, the first vampire movie. This one has everything going for it. The murky fear pervades throughout the movie and it has a non-Hollywoodian ending to boot. The intertitle text is also marginally better than Bram Stoker's novel and would have made a much better book, thanks to Henrik Gallen. Disc 2 has a revisiting of all the famous locations, which are, surprisingly, still there in various parts of Germany and Austria. Disc 2 also examines the occultist background of the movie, which is very new to me. A true classic!

Until the End of the World - Merely got this cos I liked the soundtrack. A three-part HDTV broadcast directed by Wim Wenders based on a story by Solveig Gommartin, who also acts. The first chapter is a manic chase through the world and is a nice travelogue about near future Earth. The apocalyptic premise (a nuclear satellite malfunctioning), however, is hardly exploited. Chapter 2 starts to slow down and the final part is rather boring and meandering even though the "addiction to dreams" part is highly probable. My first Wim Wenders and it's not too bad.

One movie:-

Iron Man - This one turned out well. Highly faithful to the source material, from the bulky first armour, to his friend Rhodey and his arch-enemy Obadiah Stane. There is even a nod to Civil War at the end. And there's even SHIELD, without Nick Fury, though. What makes it all hang together is Robert Downey Jr.'s sterling portrayal of a man troubled by his conscience. Comedic at times also and hugely enjoyable. Spoiled by the rather mundane climactic battle which looks like Transformers and the actor playing Stane, who is irritating and annoying rather than menacing and overbearing as in the comics. I haven't enjoyed myself this much since Fantastic Four 2 or V for Vendetta.