What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Dave Boy]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Hi Dave. You watch some great films, i just wish you'd say a few words about them.

It might make people new to them want to seek them out.

Sometimes I spend so much time seeking out and putting the picture up, I 'aint got time for anything else !!

Okay....



I had never seen this one before. Reviews keep pointing out that this is an update of Val Lewton's CAT PEOPLE. Mmm. Yes there are similar themes but I never saw this as a remake or even really thought about CAT PEOPLE when watching it. Barbara Shelley stars as a woman who gets obsessed by the idea that a family curse gives her the instincts of a Leopard. The Leopard is outside wandering around and Barbara feels she can control the actions of the Leopard, causing it to kill people. All the while she walks the streets herself...fingers outstretched like talons.
Nice little horror chiller with some atmospheric scenes and a creepy old house.
Fans like me of Barbara Shelley and British horror will love this one.

Cat Girl is new to dvd and looks really good. Remastered from a new transfer from the original film elements. Picture is theatrical ratio 1.33:1
included is the theatrical trailer, image gallery featuring posters and stills and a PDF content of the pressbook

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

That's fantastic Dave. Please keep it up.

And for your first review you talk about a film i've not seen but really need to get hold of. - swine.

I ordered one from Network on Sunday....and plumped for The Terrornauts instead.

[Dave Boy]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I ordered one from Network on Sunday....and plumped for The Terrornauts instead.

I must get that. I have never seen the film only clips and the trailer. Not Amicus finest hour so I always read, but we don't care about that do we ?


.....and the box looks great.

[Bringer Of Funerals]

Just got Netflix USA so now my watch list will be twice as long

[keirarts]

White of the eye.

A domestic drama set in Tuscon where the loving family man also happens to be a ritualistic serial killer. On face value this could have ended up being some generic potboiler but thanks to Donald Cammel's vision it transforms into something far more surreal and profound. It's an outsiders view of America similar to Wim Wenders Paris Texas or Herzog's Stroszek in the way it adds an almost mythic layer to the country. Arrow have really delivered an Amazing package here and it looks astonishing.. highly recommended.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

Better than the Nolan Batman films, and certainly a far more coherent and entertaining take on the superhero genre than Zack Snyder's man of steel which literally fell to pieces as a film when I re-visited it on the small screen.
There I said it....

Winter soldier delivers a Tom clancy-esque tale of military corruption that takes a massive side swipe at post 9/11 culture from the surveillance culture, the big unwieldy militaristic institutions that make a business out of keeping dirty secrets and a sly thank you to Edward Snowdon in the process. All the while it delivers a consistently entertaining, well written action movie that still manages to be fun in spite of the weighty issues its dealing with.

Everyone on here knows i'm a huge fan of what Marvel are doing, and I say this as objectively as I can. This is the best yet. This really is A GOOD MOVIE.

Up until now, in spite of my complaints over the Nolan Bat films (poor structure, some weak scripting, lack of a sense of humour, terrible third act with Dark knight rises) I always felt they had the edge somewhat in really trying to tackle the idea of the superhero in a real and contemporary way.

Cap does this better.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Wednesday morning and thought it was very good. What holds it back from being a great film though is Captain America, who is the most boring of all the Marvel superheroes. He's a good guy who means well and has high ideals but is just a charisma vacuum, so it's a good job that Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury are so watchable and have the best lines.

I really liked the subject matter and thought the action sequences were really well done, but Captain America is one of my least favourite superheroes because he is so dull. There's a really nice Pulp Fiction reference, which I won't mention because it is a major plot spoiler, and the supporting roles by Robert Redford, Gary Shandling and Toby Jones are extremely watchable.

Another bugbear is that the titular Winter Soldier is barely in the film and certainly has less screen time than Robert Redford.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

I saw Captain America: The Winter Soldier on Wednesday morning and thought it was very good. What holds it back from being a great film though is Captain America, who is the most boring of all the Marvel superheroes. He's a good guy who means well and has high ideals but is just a charisma vacuum, so it's a good job that Scarlett Johansson's Black Widow and Samuel L Jackson's Nick Fury are so watchable and have the best lines.

I really liked the subject matter and thought the action sequences were really well done, but Captain America is one of my least favourite superheroes because he is so dull. There's a really nice Pulp Fiction reference, which I won't mention because it is a major plot spoiler, and the supporting roles by Robert Redford, Gary Shandling and Toby Jones are extremely watchable.

Another bugbear is that the titular Winter Soldier is barely in the film and certainly has less screen time than Robert Redford.

I would disagree.

Captain America is a relic of the 1920-1940's generation of Americans. He's supposed to be like this. Showing someone of that generation encountering the militaristic, jingoistic culture that has emerged in the last few decades is part of the appeal. I personally think it's a tribute to Chris Evans as an actor that he keeps Cap as this modest, subdued and ernest guy who is out of time in a culture that has become alien to him. A lot of actors would have just gone for a modern performance. Instead cap shows us the idea of what an american is has changed so radically. He may come across as a charisma vacuum but thats because he's from a traditionally reserved and stoic generation.

I don't think Winter Soldier needed to be in it more than he was. He's supposed to be this almost mythic soviet assassin. So deploying him in the film less often really increases the impact when he appears. Plus Robert Redford is f****g incredible actor so I cannot complain when he gets screentime. Not going to say more about redfords casting as it would really be plot spoiling.

Suffice to say I really, really think people should go see this film.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I know part of the appeal is Steve Rogers/Captain America being a 'fish out of water', which is why his interactions with Tony Stark worked so well in The Avengers. However, because he is the product of such a reserved period of time, he is less fun than the likes of Natasha Romanov (Black Widow), Tony Stark or Bruce Banner.

I enjoyed the film a great deal and recommend it highly to those who liked the first Captain America film and the other recent Marvel movies.

[Nemesis]

I've been watching a few films lately starring Lino Ventura, who is one of my favourite actors:

Taxi to Tobruk

Set during World War 2 in Eqypt, a group of French soldiers are trying to get to El Alamein - their truck is blown up when one of them unwisely targets a German plane with machine gun. They then trek across the desert, come across a group of German soldiers relaxing, kill them and take their truck. What they did not know was that there was one survivor. And the film is about how they cope. Good fun, well acted, although the film did end a little suddenly and abruptly. Olive's BD is very nice.

Classe Tous Risques

Ventura plays Abel Davos, a gangster who fled from France to Italy and in the meantime, was sentenced to death in absentia. He's trying to get back to France due to depleted funds - and he comes to realise times are changing, some for the better, more for the worse. Really, really good film.

The BFI disc has also a doc on Ventura which is really well put together, and you get to learn a fair bit about him. In fact it has inspired me to get a dvd boxset of his other films - Le gifle, Le 7iem Cible, and Le Silencieux. They have not got English subs; I'll find a way to muddle through. He's just terrific.

Back to the BFI disc, one of my contenders for best disc of 2014 so far.

Touchez Pas au Grisbi

This was a rewatch, but even better the second time. It's a talkie gangster film - there's not much action, but when there is, it's got it where it counts.

Jean Gabin plays the main character, Max, an ageing gangster; I won't say much more, except Lino Ventura also stars and that this is Gabin's fim - he is magnficent in this. He's very regal and classy - every gesture is considered and nothing is out of place-, and when the situation demands, he performs with full honours. Same goes for the Chief.

To Max - a true friend.

Wondferful, wonderful film - highly recommended.

[Vampix]

I recently watched my old Dutch DVD of Mark of the Devil. It's a really authentic-looking film with excellent use of locations, costumes and torture devices. I think I read in an old issue of The Dark Side that all the instruments of torture were real! Great turns from Herbert Lom, Udo Keir and Reggie Nalder too. I'm looking forward to getting this on Blu-ray.