The Inspector is on Prime? :shocked:

How so?

I thought Nordy was CLs resident Bigfoot and the Inspector the tart with a heart of the docks.

Of course you're right.

Unfortunately Bigfoot is more common around these parts than Nordy has been recently.

:laugh:




Hellbound (1994, Aaron Norris)
Chuck traipses around Israel looking for "the devil" to roundhouse kick into submission.
A hoot. Cannon films just have something off in their dna it seems ....:nod::pound:

I know, I have taken to stalking him on Facebook these days.

Noted ;)

Compared to some Asian stuff I've seen
Tis nowt out of the ordinary ;)
Funny considering some folks would be throwing up
But then I felt sick whilst watching Pearl Harbour :laugh:
What I will say is that it is par for the course in grotty low budget grand guignol
;)

The Executioner: PartII

Gloriously scuzzy 'Nam vet vigilante actioner that oozes sleaze from every pore. Wildly over the top and equally disjointed in places, this flick bolts along at a fast pace from one scene to next in a train crash style. Recommended.

I'm really looking forward to revisiting the above this week (thanks to big Reaps and the Labs (now there's a name for a band!)).

I'm sure I saw it on video back in the 80's, but TBH I can't really remember much at all, so it will almost be like the first time again. 1970's intelligent sci-fi? I'm in like Flynn. :)

But it doesn't sound like anything blows up. :happy:

Shit surely blows up...after the baddies have been beaten up, the vigilante puts a hand grenade in their clothing and the viewer gets to see the same stock footage explosion over and over again.

Race to see who gets it first then :laugh:

Just perused Best Of The Best (1989, Robert Radler)
Wacky cast. Eric's hair must have had a trailer all its own :laugh:. Great bar brawl. Then some hippy bint turns up. Sadly as this is not a Franco film, she keeps her kit on. These vhs excursions are fun ... must dig out my La Grande Illusion (as I am secretly an arthouse ponce :laugh:)

I am thinking of only reviewing films in short hand from now:

Shit blows up!...action film
Dem will like it...direct to DVD dross or one of those old lady films he likes.
Teardropian...80s clunker seen through the bottom of a wine glass.
Art house ponce...BE likes it
Trebor will buy it...any film that isn't covered by the above.

What's an Old Lady film?

Haha. Best Whatever it's called Hotel.

Stargate: The Ark of Truth (2008)

Feature length film which continues on where the series left off. All the regulars return in an explosive 90 minutes of top notch Stargate fun in a battle against the Ori. Stargate fans who haven't seen it will recognize an old foe from past episodes but i won't spoil things here as their return was an added bonus to what was a terrific film.

I also watched Little Women (1949) which was wonderfully made in glorious Technicolor. However it's not exactly Cult Labs material and shit don't blow up!

Don't forget Downtown Abbey. :)

Little Women is a great film, watched it all the time with the girl MTDS when she was younger. The more recent one too.

Ha,ha. Fair enough. :lol:

I would say i'm surprised you remembered but as it's you i expect you have a file on all of us. :nurse:

Whats that then? An Italian rip off of Downton? :rolleyes: ;)

I've owned the US dvd for years but never got round to watching it. So i decided to take the plunge. It was very good i agree.

Yeah, you should see the photos I have of Mr420 dressed as Servalan.

He posts those everywhere.

Yeah, but given an urban edge.

Ghost in the shell (2017)

The initial anime adaptation of GITS by Mamoru Oshii was a perfect distillation of the manga by Masamune Shirow. Its still probably going to make a lot of 10 best cyberpunk films where in its near future setting the human race is embracing cyber enhancements to the point of full body prosthesis and human identity is defined by the ghost, which is to say the soul or consciousness. A newly born A.I that has escaped into the web discovers Major Motoko Kusanagi and decides it wants to merge with her to create a new being that has never before existed. It raises questions like if a being that could be seen as alive is born from human technology can it be deemed as being truly a living being? If the memories can be hacked like computer software to the point we truly believe something to be true, can a transhuman trust anything to be real and what does that say about our soul? Is our sense of identity determined by our memories? Ect. Ect. Basically its a film that isn't afraid of big ideas.
I've started with an attempt at a summation of the original film as it probably helps establish the gripes I have with this film. Visually its pretty good. Occasionally some effects work doesn't quite work as it should but overall it does a decent job of of visually representing the world of Ghost in the shell. In spite of accusations of white washing, Scarlett Johannsen is great as the major and does a great job of representing her disconnection from the world, Takeshi Kitano is awesome as section 9 chief Armaki and Pilou Asbæk is great as Batou. Sadly the film is scuppered more than a little by a script that pretty much scraps or sidelines the philosophy and the questions in favour of lifting the 'everything you know is a lie and the people you work for are evil' plot template that's been used in countless lazy writing hack jobs throughout the years. The people writing don't quite 'get' A.I. characters quite bluntly argue that its not capable of independent thinking or creativity which is BS, Developers are already working on AI that can compose songs. It probably explains why they dumped the A.I plot as I get the impression that the people writing didn't quite 'get' what was going on in the original film so stuck with a plot that is probably great for people who dont want to be saddled with any real thoughts. Also they remove any agency the character had and make her a victim because of course they did.

The original film has this scene...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yrODlC03X0Y

Its a moment that does nothing to further the plot but is both crucial to the film and one of its best moments. Its a moment in time and place that cements the world of GITS in the viewer. Gives a sense of a living breathing world that mixes in old and new. The 2017 one drops it and has the song appear in the end credits. This tells you a lot about the filmmakers.

In fairness if your not a fanboy then its possible a solid 6/10 popcorn flick.

'Downtown Abbey' is actually the Petula Clark jukebox musical

This has always been my favourite scene in the original film. My other half went to see GITS this weekend and he said he loved it, and then he watched the original yesterday morning so I'm sure he did. I'm still not convinced. I might go and see it but I'm a bit busy with Uni these next few weeks so I might not get a chance. I don't think I'm that bothered either way.

The Tenant (1976)

Despite a fine performance from Roman Polanski as the titular character who rents a downbeat Paris apartment, i found The Tenant, a film that comes across like a male version of the directors far superior Repulsion from a decade earlier, a long winded exercise in morbid tedium.

I'm not saying The Tenant is a bad film, it's just a film i didn't get on with.

Shut it, Rosie Dixon! :tongue1: what you neglected to say was that it was Halloween and I was only going out dressed as Dem. Anyway, what about you dressing up as the good Inspector in an ape costume? Why you had to shave the backside is still a mystery to me !?! :nod: :lol: :scared:

Mate brought over Santa Sangre.
With this Jodorowsky film, I liked it. However i do feel that the second half of the movie feels off.

off to see it this afternoon, my hopes aren't high.

I really like The Tenant, Dem. A shame you didn't get on with it.

Another film I really love!

'Off' is perhaps my comfort zone though. ;)

The Whisperers
The Beast In The Cellar
Don't Look Now

are 3 that spring to mind cough ;)

I didn't really see any point to what was happening. With Polanski i either love the films or loathe them. Most i've seen i love, but The Tenant and Fearless Vampire Killers did nothing for me.

I may be alone in this, but on occasion some of my favourite film experiences could be described as such! ;)

Film is subjective. I can think of numerous films where little happens but are very watchable.

Nothing "happens" in Withnail & I ...


In honour of learning about a possible tome from the director
I perused
American Samurai (1993, Sam Firstenberg)
Loopy David Bradley actioner. Quite a find really, as tis way more bloody than I expected. Recommended to those here who love such things ;)

What's up with weird punctuation, D? Its like I'm reading a dyslexic haiku. :tongue1: :)

This is not a joke by the way believe me ;)