What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[gag]

Originally Posted by Rik

Watched a couple of films from my Sky planner last night. First up was The Exterminator, excellent film although I didn't think it was as violent as it was made out to be, unless the Horror Channel showed a cut version? Second up was one of my favourite films as a kid, Gremlins. I haven't watched it in ages and I have to say I still absolutely love it, definitely need to pick both this and the sequel up on blu ray.


Well hello Mister Fancypants.

Exterminator it was the uncut version not a bad film tho ,
Just fin watching maniac cop havent seen it for over 20yr lets face it, it is a bit on the naff side

[Prince_Vajda]

Originally Posted by gag

Exterminator it was the uncut version not a bad film tho ,
Just fin watching maniac cop havent seen it for over 20yr lets face it, it is a bit on the naff side

The Exterminator is pretty mediocre, apart from some great action scenes and some nasty killings.

As for Maniac Cop: --> --> -->



Greetings!

[Gojirosan]

Bob Clark's A Christmas Story, which is probably only second to It's A Wonderful Life in the pantheon of such things.

A superb family Christmas film, sentimental but not mawkish, funny and involving. Darren McGavin is excellent - indeed the whole cast are fabulous.

[Nemesis]

Burial Ground - what a hoot! I cannot remember the last time I ejoyed a so bad, it's good experience, but this certainly fits the bill. Atrocious dialogue appalling acting made for a comedy gold experience indeed, certainly for most of the film!

I also watched one of the extras - the interview with Mariangela Giordano. That must have been quite tough for the interviewer - to realize that she had no memory of making the film at all. Even though Italian was not his first language, you can really get a palpable sense of his disappointment as the interview goes on.

[sawyer6]

Death Of A Salesman, very good adaptation. Revolution ,good but need it more characters development.The Incredible Shrinking Man ,very good sci-fi with great effects and an excellent ending and The Sicilian ,ok but something was missing...

[Phurious]

My wife had her Chrimbo work party of Friday night, so my mate came round and we watched some damn fine 80s schlock.

Xtro
This had been discussed on here the last week and my mate hadn't seen it, so I wanted to see what he thought and I'm chuffed to say he really enjoyed it.
It's my second view of it this year and the last time I watched it, it was part of my self imposed A-Z movie challenge where I watched 26 films (A-Z) in one go, so as you can imagine by the time I got to 'X' - the trippy and frankly baffling nature of Xtro lent itself perfectly to my sleep deprived and slightly hallucinogenic state of mind.
This time I'd had a few beers and a fair bit of chin wagging was taking place, but I still really rate it as a low budget film. Owing a debt to the likes of Quatermaass and even the stories of John Wyndham, I felt that the ideas and creative effort put into the film were really apparent and the surreal black humour worked very well too.
And I'm still adamant that the score is an unheralded work of genius

Next up was Stagefright

A first time for me and my mate. I've been reading a lot about Soavi in Alan Jones' Profondo Argento and I know that this forum's Slippery Jack is a big fan of this flick.
As a rule I'm a bit meh when it comes to slashers, but I really liked the set up of this and the owl head is a great piece of wtf costume design.
Boswell's manic score was hugely enjoyable and I loved the murder set pieces, but I felt that the last half hour dragged and the fact that we always knew who the killer was seemed to contribute to this.
However it's superbly shot with some bravura camerawork that owes more than a nod to Argento's oeuvre and the whole opening sequence is both hilarious and technically fantastic.
I'm guessing that Soavi has a very dark sense of humour, which lends itself well to a film where the killer offs people in an owl mask, and it's this lightness brilliantly that counterpoints the really gruesome deaths.
So, overall a good film, let down by a pretty weak plot.

My mate called it a night after Stagefright, but I ploughed on with a VHS copy of Zone Troopers.

Out of the Charles Band stable with the usual suspects (Tim Thomerson and Art LaFleur) this delightful b movie romp has US troops in World War II fighting the nazis and stumbling upon an alien craft and some of it's cargo - cue alien cliches and tropes that we've seen before, but this is done with tongue firmly in cheek as director Danny Bilson playfully parodies the camaraderie of Boys Own action comics with their archetypal characters and dialogue.
Everyone seems to be having a great time and the costumes and design of the film is surprisingly convincing for such a low budget flick.
There's a gags-a-plenty and the cast are solid and knowing in their roles, of particular note is Timothy Van Patten (Class of 1984 and TV director (The Wire, The Sopranos & Boardwalk Empire) who brings a delightful naivety to the role of the comics obsessed grunt who is in thrall of the aliens.

If your expectations are reasonably low and you have nostalgia for mid 80s Sci-fi B movies, this is manna from heaven.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Phurious

My wife had her Chrimbo work party of Friday night, so my mate came round and we watched some damn fine 80s schlock.

Xtro
This had been discussed on here the last week and my mate hadn't seen it, so I wanted to see what he thought and I'm chuffed to say he really enjoyed it.
It's my second view of it this year and the last time I watched it, it was part of my self imposed A-Z movie challenge where I watched 26 films (A-Z) in one go, so as you can imagine by the time I got to 'X' - the trippy and frankly baffling nature of Xtro lent itself perfectly to my sleep deprived and slightly hallucinogenic state of mind.
This time I'd had a few beers and a fair bit of chin wagging was taking place, but I still really rate it as a low budget film. Owing a debt to the likes of Quatermaass and even the stories of John Wyndham, I felt that the ideas and creative effort put into the film were really apparent and the surreal black humour worked very well too.
And I'm still adamant that the score is an unheralded work of genius

Next up was Stagefright

A first time for me and my mate. I've been reading a lot about Soavi in Alan Jones' Profondo Argento and I know that this forum's Slippery Jack is a big fan of this flick.
As a rule I'm a bit meh when it comes to slashers, but I really liked the set up of this and the owl head is a great piece of wtf costume design.
Boswell's manic score was hugely enjoyable and I loved the murder set pieces, but I felt that the last half hour dragged and the fact that we always knew who the killer was seemed to contribute to this.
However it's superbly shot with some bravura camerawork that owes more than a nod to Argento's oeuvre and the whole opening sequence is both hilarious and technically fantastic.
I'm guessing that Soavi has a very dark sense of humour, which lends itself well to a film where the killer offs people in an owl mask, and it's this lightness brilliantly that counterpoints the really gruesome deaths.
So, overall a good film, let down by a pretty weak plot.

My mate called it a night after Stagefright, but I ploughed on with a VHS copy of Zone Troopers.

Out of the Charles Band stable with the usual suspects (Tim Thomerson and Art LaFleur) this delightful b movie romp has US troops in World War II fighting the nazis and stumbling upon an alien craft and some of it's cargo - cue alien cliches and tropes that we've seen before, but this is done with tongue firmly in cheek as director Danny Bilson playfully parodies the camaraderie of Boys Own action comics with their archetypal characters and dialogue.
Everyone seems to be having a great time and the costumes and design of the film is surprisingly convincing for such a low budget flick.
There's a gags-a-plenty and the cast are solid and knowing in their roles, of particular note is Timothy Van Patten (Class of 1984 and TV director (The Wire, The Sopranos & Boardwalk Empire) who brings a delightful naivety to the role of the comics obsessed grunt who is in thrall of the aliens.

If your expectations are reasonably low and you have nostalgia for mid 80s Sci-fi B movies, this is manna from heaven.

I much prefer Stagefright over xtro didnt rate xtro much to be honest..

[Phurious]

Originally Posted by gag

I much prefer Stagefright over xtro didnt rate xtro much to be honest..

I'll watch Stagefright again for sure at some point, but Xtro is more my bag really: sci-fi, British and bloody odd.

I enjoyed Stagefright don't get me wrong, but when there's no real reveal or mystery about the killer unlike a giallo say, it just rang out a tad a hollow.

[platostotal]

Saturday's telly served up some good stuff, GHOSTBUSTERS 2(ch5), FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS(dave) and MIMIC(bbc1) all running almost one right after another, more like that please.

[Baseball Fury]

And Mimic was in HD!