$6 million was a decent budget for a film. The average budget in 1981 was about $12 million, but that includes blockbusters.

$6 million was a decent budget for a film. The average budget in 1981 was about $12 million, but that includes blockbusters.

The Hand had Michael Caine and a $6 million budget, as well as distribution through Orion/Warner Brothers. It wasn't ultra-low budget at all.

The Hand had Michael Caine and a $6 million budget, as well as distribution through Orion/Warner Brothers. It wasn't ultra-low budget at all.

This review is pretty good — perhaps because of diminished expectations, I found myself quite involved with it. Picking up on a discussion from elsewhere, the film isn't pretentious; it's painfully unsubtle in places, but it does address themes (the arc of the universe towards justice, to paraphrase Martin Luther…

This review is pretty good — perhaps because of diminished expectations, I found myself quite involved with it. Picking up on a discussion from elsewhere, the film isn't pretentious; it's painfully unsubtle in places, but it does address themes (the arc of the universe towards justice, to paraphrase Martin Luther…

If it has potential, it's not pretentious. I'm glad you are a discerning viewer and that you study film. I teach it, actually, and if you were to call a film "pretentious" in my class you'd spend the rest of the day trying and failing to defend that position.

If it has potential, it's not pretentious. I'm glad you are a discerning viewer and that you study film. I teach it, actually, and if you were to call a film "pretentious" in my class you'd spend the rest of the day trying and failing to defend that position.

I will be seeing Cloud Atlas this weekend (assuming it opens here in SE Alabama… I should check on that). The novel was terrific, but it struck me as something that should have been developed as a miniseries for HBO. It would have been easier to replicate the structure of the novel in that format.

I will be seeing Cloud Atlas this weekend (assuming it opens here in SE Alabama… I should check on that). The novel was terrific, but it struck me as something that should have been developed as a miniseries for HBO. It would have been easier to replicate the structure of the novel in that format.

I haven't seen it, but "pretentious" is a word that people use when they don't want to have to think about a film, book, idea, whatever. It's probably the laziest criticism I can think of.

I haven't seen it, but "pretentious" is a word that people use when they don't want to have to think about a film, book, idea, whatever. It's probably the laziest criticism I can think of.

@RobertMosesSupposesErroneously:disqus : I think you misread a theme for the moral.

@RobertMosesSupposesErroneously:disqus : I think you misread a theme for the moral.

I don't like either film, but House of the Devil is leagues better than the snoozefest that is Innkeepers.

I don't like either film, but House of the Devil is leagues better than the snoozefest that is Innkeepers.

I don't have a problem with the witches so much as the fact that the way it has been introduced screws with the backstory established in the first two films. Katie and her sister clearly talk about their mother as though she had been a presence in their lives longer, and, call me crazy but I think they'd have…

I don't have a problem with the witches so much as the fact that the way it has been introduced screws with the backstory established in the first two films. Katie and her sister clearly talk about their mother as though she had been a presence in their lives longer, and, call me crazy but I think they'd have…

If I've learned one thing in life, it's that people are ignorant.

If I've learned one thing in life, it's that people are ignorant.