What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Slippery Jack]

Originally Posted by antmumford

There's many a film I despise that people rave about ie. Two Lane Blacktop, now that was a messy excuse for talented filmmaking Uh Oh!

See, I know nothing about that film, but was thinking about blind-buying the steelbook - but I got burned doing that with Silent Running so maybe I'll rent it first . . .

[antmumford]

Originally Posted by Slippery Jack

See, I know nothing about that film, but was thinking about blind-buying the steelbook - but I got burned doing that with Silent Running so maybe I'll rent it first . . .

It was just soooo poorly acted, unbelievable characters, no linear story and bad editing and use of music. It just seemed so messy and didn't gel at all.
I'd be willing to give the Blu a rent just to see if it was my frame of mind at the time though

[Make Them Die Slowly]

Originally Posted by Slippery Jack

See, I know nothing about that film, but was thinking about blind-buying the steelbook - but I got burned doing that with Silent Running so maybe I'll rent it first . . .

It's great and not a little robot in sight.

[pedromonkey]

just watched Killer Elite, not the Peckinpah film but the new Statham, DeNiro flick, enjoyed the hell out of it, i was expecting a full on action movie and while there are some great action set pieces, it has a great based on true events story. Highly recommended for actions fans and political thriller fans. Also some of this was shot about 10 minutes from my house.

[nekromantik]

Just watched Drive.
I dont see the love this flick.
It starts out good but then for the next 45 mins its quite bland and slow.
It gets better in last 45 min but its not that great, dont get me wrong its not a bad movie just not great.
Had some pretty good violence in it though and if they did not have such a long build up I might have thought it was much better.

[Nordicdusk]

Silent Night Deadly Night 1 & 2. The films are good but in part 2 the first half of the movie is just flash backs of the first film.

[Handyman Joe]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

I watched THE DEMON SEED today, inspired by whispy memories of seeing it when I was a kid (although I also saw it dead drunk a couple years ago, a complete black out). I thought it was wonderful. A macrocosm within a microcosm, the film dares to take on big themes like the nature of consciousness and the depths of human belonging whilst planting them firmly within the sci-fi / exploitation context of what is essentially a computer-rape scenario. Now, digital sex assault in a tawdry 70s sub-future may not be all that great but this film certainly is, and it's a testament to Don Cammell and his direction that his haunting work constantly evokes questions that loom larger than the events portrayed. An insistent eerieness runs through the proceedings (I often find this happens with a certain kind of film from the seventies) and I feel it would've played well alongside Cronenberg of this period, although some of its narrative moves are slightly more obvious. With its philosophy and nastiness, would surely be ripe for some kind of harsh contemporary J-horror update - be 'nice' to see Sato ('Naked Blood' etc) take it on.

Earlier in the week I sat down with THE HOUSE OF EXORCISM. I didn't dig it all that much. I haven't seen 'Lisa and the Devil' so don't feel able to denounce this as a butchered and flayed figment, although I'm aware of its history. Maybe it was my mood, maybe I'd primed myself for something more dream-like... but it didn't hook me, and I ended things thinking I'd prefer almost any other Bava, although, again, in this version it wasn't really his film. I should probably give it another go, but I actually think that if you're going to remix from borderline art-house to grindhouse, you might as well go overboard with the exploitative elements, which were only tepid here (and all ripped off, unsurprisingly, from 'The Exorcist'). What else have I seen recently? JULIE DARLING courtesy of Code Red. Basically a trashier take on 'Bad Seed' thematics, it drapes saggy raiments of evil-teen melodrama over an awkward frame of incest-fantasy. It's maybe worth watching as a slice of odd-film history and, despite its murkier undercurrents rarely surfacing all that explicitly, it retains an authentic 'exploitation' feeling atmospherically, although 'Bloody Birthday' remains a much more compelling take on kids killing a bunch of adults and generally being horrible a mon avis.

Don't pass on Lisa and the Devil, I love it and it delivers on the dream like front, definitely in my top 3 Bava with Kill Baby Kill and Black Sunday. Another one in the same vein is Malpertuis by Harry Kumel - the Barrel DVD is fantastic if you can track it down..

[bdc]

Stooges in Tokyo (1991)
My first introduction to James Wong Jim or uncle Jim!
Wong Jim - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Fun Cat III sex comedy which actually has a bit of a message.

I'll never forget that a "naked hen" brings 3 years of bad luck!

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

A NIGHT TO DISMEMBER - A true jaw-dropper. 'Rehabilitated' former teen slasher returns from psyche-ward only to find her murder-instincts all too intact... or maybe something else entirely is happening, as suggested by the incessant flow of cinematic non-sequiturs, bizarre edits, oneirc eruptions and truly brazen nonsense. This is a film wholly out of tune with itself. It was made by Doris Wishman, one of the few distaff movers and shakers in the early roughie / porn arena (other side of the camera). It's well documented that half of the film was destroyed during processing and hit the screen as a reanimated patchwork of sad remains, out-takes and possibly unused fragments of other movies. As a result it plays almost like 'bad' experimental cinema, a post-Fluxus home movie drunk on its own mad dream of slasher video rental success. There are loads of inexplicable shots of feet - I'm not familliar with Wishman's ouvre, but I think maye the foot-thing was a recurring image throughout many of her films? I like to think that's true anyway. Never tired of watching this over the years, it remains an authentically disorientating landmark in para-cinema.

Have you got the Elite R1 DVD? If so, listen to the commentary. It's the best commentary. Ever. Period.

Wishman is on there with her director of photography and every time he tries to say something she tells him to shut up and constantly blames him for all the stinkers she's made. Pure class. Be sure to listen to it.

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Watched SUPERNOVA, starring James Spader and Angela Bassett. Despite all the behind the scenes shenanigans (Walter Hill having his name removed from the film, reshoots by Jack Sholder, editing by Francis Ford Coppolla, the film losing around $75 million), I've always found it an enjoyable film. And it's amazing to watch it and see James Spader today, and see how someone can change so much in 12 years. I think myself and Spader should become gym buddies!