Doing something a bit different with the F13th set from SF.

Watching the commentaries first (not in order),

Friday the 13th: Good selection of info, however NOT A COMMENTARY. INTERVIEWS CUT TOGETHER.

Next up, Friday Part 4 (this has 2 comms!)

Tremors: Shrieker Island. 2020.

When a nature preserve comes under attack on Solomon Islands, they recruit Burt Gummer to help and picks up a new protege. On the island a hunting party has mutated the Graboid eggs to make the hunt exciting.

I had no high hopes for this as they all seem to be the same, same Graboids different place but this was better than I thought even though it still has the campy feel to it like the first and see some more Graboid guts. Michael Gross returns as the Graboid survivalist Burt who has a good band pf a army behind even though they do reference and copy Predator a bit. There is a good interview with cast and crew from the original Tremors and Tremors 3 and the 30 top best bits of Tremors saga and Burt's phrases (Burtisms).

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Sorry because this is another negative review (I usually feel more compelled to share thoughts about dodgy viewing experiences).

Game of Death (1978).

I've owned the UK Bruce Lee blu-ray boxset for quite a while but had put off revisiting this fifth film in the set. Sadly it's every bit as bad as I could recall, the passing of time certainly hasn't made it any better. :)

You're not really sure what they were attempting to accomplish here: whether it was cinematic grave robbing or some sort of tribute. Including actual footage of Lee's funeral as part of the plotline certainly seems to be in bad taste.

It's incredibly inept almost throughout. The classic moment is when you see a cardboard cutout of Bruce Lee's face pasted onto a mirror. The effect does not convince! Hard to believe that this was helmed by the same director as Enter The Dragon.

As I'm sure most here will know, Bruce Lee hardly appears in the movie and quite often, when you do see him, the footage comes from previously released films (and usually very clumsily edited in).

The blu-ray has 39 minutes of excellent footage (standard definition) from the original postponed 1972 shoot which manages to make it worth keeping. But I have put it inside a two disc case alongside Enter The Dragon as it doesn't deserve it's own place on the shelves.

I listened to ten minutes of the Bey Logan commentary out of curiosity. He states that Game of Death was the first Bruce Lee film that he saw. It's probably remarkable that it didn't put him off from seeing the other (classic) films.

Terrible film.

Saw: The Final Chapter

Detective Hoffman puts another game together while avoiding detection. However friction between him and Jill Tuck starts to take over. This was done in 3D and whilst there were a couple of gory scenes, there were certainly weaker ideas for some of the traps. The FX didn't seem to be good for some of the scenes either. There is a customary twist at the end and in a way it did make some sense.

Harry Brown

Michael Caine goes vigilante when youths kill his friend. Pretty good but it is slow in places. I find these films are better when it's an Actor who you wouldn't associate with these types of roles instead of someone like a Jason Statham (I like most of his films BTW)

Shootfighter

Martin Kove is exiled from Shootfighting when he willingly kills his opponent, therefore he runs his own Shootfighting Tournaments where he entices a student trained by his rival, Bolo Yeung (Playing a good guy) Again a really enjoyable Fight Film with some very bloody, brutal Fight Scenes. It is also an unofficial Karate Kid reunion with Kove and William Zabka.

Blackbeard's Ghost

A favorite Disney Movie of mine which sees the in-limbo ghost of Blackbeard (Peter Ustinov) having to do a good deed. So he decides to help save a Hotel from Developers. In doing so, he appears so that only Athletics Coach (Dean Jones) can see him therefore assisting The Coach's bunch of weakling Atlhletes win a Track And Field Competition much to Jones's annoyance as he didn't want to cheat. Dean Jones is really good at maintaining his character's seriousness whilst bizarre things are happening that the other people are not aware of how it's happening.

Scream 2

Sequel to the hit Film, in which a copycat is again murdering people associated with Sydney Presscott and the In-Film Movie of Stab. Lot's of nuggets for Movie Buffs to smile about in this entertaining Film but just a tad too long.

Troll Hunter. 2010.

A trio of students investigate a spate of bear killings in Norway, join a man who seems to be investigating the killings is hunting something else, giant trolls that have escapes their captivity area.

This movie may deserve some praise as it plays on the Norwegian folklore and myths that trolls do exist and roam the hills and countryside, when I first saw the trailer, I knew it be in POV found footage style which seemed to be popular. With it being Norwegian I had no idea who the actors were only to find out some of them are actually well known comedians in their home city.

The CGI effects are actually decent to enjoy even with a three headed troll and that they turn to stone or blow up, there is a in joke of the fairy tale three goats on a bridge while a troll is underneath it. This isn't just a horror it is mockumentary blended in with fantasy and urban legend. Worth a watch if you like found footage films.

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The commentaries for Parts 6 and 7 are excellent.

Tom McLaughlin has a lot of genuine affection for the series, and talks a lot about his methods and ideas for Jason Lives.

Carl Buechler and Kane Hodder are great fun together on the commentaries for The New Blood. Their memories are excellent, and they relentlessly tease each other.

Jailhouse Wardress (1979)

The Nazi Cult Collection is a fine boxset of Nazisploitation films from French / Spanish company Eurocine. With one duffer among the six films on offer. From the first time i watched the set i remembered one of the films was an incoherent, unwatchable mess. Last night it became apparent from the first minute that Jailhouse Wardress was the one.

It seems like the cast wish that they were in a different film and it quickly becomes clear that they are.

We all know Eurocine take liberties with the footage they film and often use scenes in different films, or the same scene from differing perspectives. However in the case of Jailhouse Wardress there isn't a film there in the first place for the odd scene to be mixed and matched from other titles. The entire film is just scenes ripped from their other jail / Nazi titles. The film has no story line and characters come and go every so often. Hell even Jess Franco himself has a love scene in it for no apparent reason other than his missus in real life, Lina Romay, is dreaming about it from her cell.

It's an incomprehensible mish-mash of scenes from other Eurocine films such as Elsa Fraulein SS and Special Train For Hitler but mainly it's footage from Franco's Barbed Wire Dolls reused and clumsily edited. Lina Romay is escorted around a prison courtyard a couple of times and Paul Muller wanders in and out of shot occasionally. The rest of the film is mainly idle chatter with nude inserts thrown in. I'm not actually sure if there is any footage specifically shot for this film or not. It doesn't appear so.

The worst thing about the film as well as its total lack of coherency is how the scenes are edited together. Its not just scenes which don't follow on from one another, no, in the case of Jailhouse Wardress conversations between characters are from differing films, you can spot this a mile away due to the different film stocks and even more obviously as characters are in different rooms from one another - you'll notice walls are decorated differently during 'scenes'.

Having said that i'd knowingly re-watch this again rather than modern shite like The Gallows.

Any film is better than The Gallows, once seen happily forgotten about

Totally agree on the Harry brown comment, better without the muscles and brawns etc.

The Killings At Outpost Zeta (1980, Robert Emegger, Alan Sandler)

From the folks who brought you Lifepod and Warp Speed, so you know what to expect. It's actually quite fun tbh. The quality of the print sort of makes the alien planet look alien haha ahem.
A Fisher Price mish mash of various tropes. Undemanding is the buzz word here.

Equilibrium. 2002.

In a society where all form of feeling are illegal, a man in charge of enforcing the law of sense offence, rises to overthrow the system and the state that created the law.

Set in a future, post-World War III society where emotions have been outlawed, Equilibrium tells the story of John Preston (Christian Bale), a government agent who begins to have doubts about the policy he is enforcing.
For me when I first saw this at the first shootout I thought all those guns and gunfire no blood c'mon, then as the movie goes on the blood splatter comes in good doses. The gun kata is brilliantly executed by Christian Bale and Angus Macfayden who probably spent time training as well as the fighting sequences with guns and swords (only small part sword fighting except the training). Taye Diggs makes a good on screen presence as the new partner and one who will abide by the laws, may not be perfect but certainly good to watch over again.

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Jigsaw

More traps and another of Jigsaw's helpers is revealed, I'm sure that the scripts had the same template for the all the movies. Still I enjoyed this one, mind you I was wondering at The Cinema, how come Jigsaw was alive and well, when he 1st appeared.

Scream 3

The final (Apparently) film in the series sees Sydney in isolation but again a killer appears targeting her. Very enjoyable with some in-jokes for us film buffs to enjoy.

This was the 2nd 18 rated film, I saw at The Cinema and couldn't wait to see the 1st showing on opening day in the morning (As I loved the previous 2). Thankfully it was well worth waiting outside waiting for The Cinema to open in the queue with children who were waiting to get tickets for that blooming 1st Pokémon Movie (Which was released the same day)

Oh by the way, The original Scream Movie is 23 yes 23 years old.

Married To The Mob

Michelle Pfeiffer is The Mob wife who leaves the life behind after her husband (Alec Baldwin) is murdered by Mob Boss (Dean Stockwell) and spawning the advances of Stockwell as well as avoiding Stockwell's wife (Who he's scared off). She attracts the attention of a Undercover Detective (Matthew Modine) I enjoyed this back in the day but didn't enjoy it as much. Could have sworn that much more happened in this movie.

The Tram (1973)

Written and directed by Dario Argento this tv movie from the series Door into Darkness asks the question how a woman could have been murdered whilst traveling on a crowded tram and not noticed by anyone.

This is CSI: Crime Scene Investigation, thirty years before Anthony Zuiker created it.

The dvd from Mya Communications features all four episodes including Luigi Cozzi's The Neighbour and is recommended. If you can find a copy.

Dawn of the Dead (1978)

https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EK2X_yoW8...600/davids.png

In glorious 4k and yes it really does look and sound fantastic. It's the first time I've watched the Theatrical Cut in years, and my last 2 watches were the Argento version, I'm struggling to decide which I like better now. If only a few scenes were trimmed down in the Romero version I think it'd be perfect. There is just too much fluff between The trucks blocking the doors and Savini combing his mustache...

A Cure for Wellness (2017)

I really don't like movies like this, i find them remarkably unsettling and although this is a creepy health spa it might as well be an asylum with lobotomies for breakfast and water torture for supper.

It's clearly a good film with great cinematography and equally good performances but i tend to watch through gritted teeth and a sense of unease which i guess is what a true horror film is supposed to do to it's audience, so in that respect Gore Verbinski's film does one hell of a job in the creeping me out department although at two and a half hours it's far too long.

The running time is the only reason I've not watched this film so far!

I'll definitely watch it again, even if parts really do disturb me.

I rather liked it, particularly the way it turned a "twist" that has become a complete cliched bore in modern times (hello Shutter Island) completely on its head. ;)

Bells (1982, Michael Anderson)

Richard Chamberlain in a horror film? Hmmm. A college professor investigates the death of a former student. Not as thrilling as it thinks it is. You were still getting these post Watergate films right up til the end of the decade tbh. Fun enough, but it just didn't hold my attention.

Spree Eugene Kotlyarenko)

One of the Stranger Things mob plays a sperg, or is he an incel ... or worst of all a CUCK?? Ahem. This is the world we live in now apparently. When Warhol said "in the future, everyone will be famous for 15 minutes ... " he was surely JOKING :laugh:
About as woke as it gets. AWOKEN FFS. Ahem. Yet again I implore you to see The Actor, a film that was better constructed by far, and far creepier.
Or you can cringe to this. I'm off to up my status me .... :pound:

I actually really liked Spree, I found it really funny to be honest. I watch a lot of YouTube so I guess it spoke to me :lol:

Death on the Nile (2004)

Despite this feature length episode co-starring Emily Blunt, Daisy Donovan and Zoe Telford, the only person in it who i've had sat on my knee is Steve Pemberton, i'm sorry to say.

Far better than the 1978 movie version.

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SUPERMAN THE MOVIE (1978) (3 hour cut)

Another of my all time greats. The movie is pure comic book and acurate to the way the comic books looked in the 1970's. Lois Lane's penthouse apartment for one thing.
The movie is now available in three different versions. The Special Edition holds the middle ground. The 3 hour cut for me is just awesome but I can see why some may think that it drags the film out.
When the film came out, pictures were printed in mags and collectores books and I remember thinking "That was not in the film". Well, there here in the 3 hour cut. John Williams on hand again to supply another superb score.
Whatever version you choose. For me, this is still the greatest superhero movie ever!!

I’m not into superhero marvel dc etc, but absolutely love superman 1-3 , rest in comparisons suck.

Oh, I liked it ... up to a point :lol:

Amok Train (1989, Jeff Kwitny)

AKA Beyond the Door III :lol:

When some American students agree to a field trip in darkest Serbia, you know that it's not going to turn out well tbh. the moral being, careful what you wish for it seems! Bloody bonkers tis (and a tad dull ...) but the gore makes up for it, wooh female parent etc. :nod:

Hitchcock's 'Lifeboat', Eureka bluray. 4/5

'The Ipcress File', Network bluray 4/5

The Body Beneath (1970, Andy Milligan)

Another suburban gothic carry on.
Relatives, they can be a nuisance sometimes, especially the bloody immortal ones :laugh:
So when Susan meets a religious type who claims shared heritage, a world of swirling zooms and tropes opens up to her. Somewhat more spritely paced than Blood tbh, and all the better for it. One of three he made in England.
Somewhat more conventional and linear but still AM AF :lol:

The Meg. I enjoyed this giant killer shark movie at the cinema, but found it a bit meh on second viewing. Can't see it becoming a favourite, to be honest.

The New York Ripper (1982)

Possibly Lucio Fulci's most controversial and sadistic film, this New York set giallo thriller features some of the most notorious sequences of violence towards women in the whole genre with one or two sequences bordering on pornographic.

The film itself is fairly cliched and not particularly involving and the duck voiced killer is simply silly but there are some good 42nd Street locations and the aforementioned murders stick in the memory whether you like it or not. Although the question remains what was English actor and star of the classic BBC series Colditz, Jack Hedley, doing headlining something like this?

Killers In The Castle Of Blood (1970, JL Merino)

Some Spanish gothic this time.
Sadly hilariously dubbed, so it takes the sting out of some scenes. A new job? Forging a path in new territory? How modern some of it seems. A chemist joins a secretive Baron to aid his experiments. The print yet again diminished some of the impact. A bit torrid and possibly trimmed in places, this was an oddity, and following a Milligan flick this is high praise :lol:
Hmmm.

The Good Liar (2019) ★★★

The main selling point for this is the first on-screen pairing of Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren, two of the most accomplished actors in the history of stage and screen. The film is worth watching for their performances as they are both so good they elevate the fairly mediocre subject material to a higher level than it deserves.

The film wants to be a tense thriller in which you are rooting for Mirren's wealthy widow, not wanting her to fall victim to McKellen's conman. There is some good material here and the two leads, plus Russell Tovey, are extremely watchable.

I felt shortchanged with the dénouement as it left me thinking 'Really? That's the motivation and the entire reason for the actions?' At that point, I should have wanted to immediately watch the film to see what I missed, but this seems like a film where the plotting feels a bit half baked and the ending doesn't link in with the rest of the film to the point where you'll watch it again to see where you were deceived by Bill Condon's direction and Jeffrey Hatcher's script.

It's a film which is worth watching for the interplay between the two stellar leads, but one which won't stay with you for long after the credits have rolled unless you want to spend some time wondering what made this so appealing to McKellen and Mirren in the first place.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ljKzF...rBros.Pictures

Ford v Ferrari (2019) ★★★★

This is a film with a puzzling title, one which pits two car manufacturers against each other, yet Ferrari barely feature. It's more a case of Ferrari's presence and reputation as the world's pre-eminent automobile manufacturer leads Ford, particularly Henry Ford II (Tracy Letts) and Ford's vice president, Lee Iacocca (Jon Bernthal) to approach Carroll Shelby (Matt Damon) to develop a car to win at Le Mans.

With help from the brilliant, but unpredictable, driver and engineer Ken Miles (Christian Bale), they develop the Ford GT40 Mk II which goes to France to compete with Ferrari's prototype 330 P3 at the 1966 24 hours of Le Mans.

James Mangold has made some great films, from Cop Land to Walk the Line and Logan, and this is clearly a film made by a great director. I can see why it was nominated for so many industry awards last year. It's a great story, it's superbly directed with gripping action sequences and brilliant sound design and school. The performances, particularly Christian Bale with a very convincing Sutton Coldfield accent, are uniformly strong, and there were numerous occasions when I wished I was watching it in a big cinema with a huge screen and 360° sound.

It's a film with driving sequences of which John Frankenheimer (Grand Prix, Ronin) would be proud and I will probably buy it for home viewing in the next 12 months, most likely in the 4K Ultra HD format for the best possible picture and sound quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zyYgD...CenturyStudios

The Lighthouse (2019) ★★★★★

In the 1890s, two lighthouse keepers are alone on an unnamed and mysterious island in New England. One of them (Willem Defoe) is a grizzled veteran 'wickie' who is joined for a month by someone new to the profession (Robert Pattinson). When a storm hits and they are stranded on the island, alcohol consumption increases, tempers fray, and the line between reality and fantasy becomes blurred.

I thought Robert Eggers had peaked with his astonishingly good debut, The Witch, but it seems he has hit pay dirt again with this compelling and disturbingly claustrophobic follow-up.

Willem Defoe delivers one of the best performances of his long and distinguished career while Robert Pattinson seems to be channelling Daniel Day Lewis for a powerhouse acting display which should silence his naysayers.

Shot in stark monochrome in the unusual 1.19:1 aspect ratio and with a complex and thoughtful screenplay, this delivers on aesthetic, emotional, and intellectual levels. As he showed with The Witch, Eggers again created a completely convincing period setting – the costumes, make-up, and production design are phenomenally good – and the dialogue between the two men could have been written by Edgar Allen Poe.

It's a film I intend to revisit soon (I streamed this on Now TV and ordered the Blu-ray the next day) and will watch many times to understand the sociological, mythological, and philosophical themes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hyag7...ab_channel=A24

Judy (2019) ★★★½

Watching this as someone who knew almost nothing about Judy Garland's life was a crash course in the end of her career. The film picks up with a broke, unemployed and homeless Garland in her mid-40s, struggling to keep custody of the children and physically and mentally damaged by years of substance abuse.

Through flashbacks, we see how she was abused by the studios, pressurised to keep her weight down by using amphetamines and be told in no uncertain terms that she is disposable, someone who is only special because of her singing voice.

There isn't much about the film which is special; I was often guessing who people were and the plot is quite thin with highlights few and far between (I really liked the scene where she meets two gay fans, ending up making them a late night snack in their flat).

It's a film dominated by Renée Zellweger's performance, one which is a remarkable transformation and there were times where, if I knew nothing about the film, I would have struggled to name who was playing Judy Garland.

Every time Zellweger takes the microphone and sings, the film comes to life; the interactions between Judy and Mickey less so – I had to look on the Internet to find out some of the people work because I was confused between Mickey Deans and Mickey Rooney and it felt that director Rupert Goold assumes people will watch the film with a good working knowledge of Judy Garland's life. If you are going to watch this, it's probably worth doing a bit of reading beforehand so you aren't pausing it to do some online research during the film.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g4ynU...annel=ONEMedia

I enjoyed this as well, surprisingly how a lot of people hated it but that was down to the fact there only 2 ppl in the film and complained it was slow and not much to it, I think a lot of people don’t understand the concept of the film about the boredom and slow descend into madness.

Dominion: Prequel to the Exorcist (2005)

Although Paul Schrader's film is well made, nicely photographed, decently acted and steadfastly earnest, it seems to forget what it is at it's base level.

A prequel to one of the scariest movies of all time. Because, uneasy prologue aside involving Nazi's committing war crimes, this isn't the least bit frightening or remotely gripping.

A film that stands up. 4 times I've watched it now. Blinding talent. Plus the fact that I loathe shitehawks. :lol:

I adore The Witch so i can't really put into words how disappointed i was with The Lighthouse. Everything was there for perfection. But it was just pointless. And headache inducing. It wasn't the aspect ratio, the B&W photography, the 2 man cast or any of the things your average amazon reviewer would whine about. It was just that it was pointless. With a droning painful soundtrack.

Scream 4

Sydney Prescott comes home to promote her book but a copycat killer starts killing. This is the weakest of the series but it's not bad, it just follows the blueprint from the other films but with some subtle changes like discussions regarding reboots.

Feels like the George A. Romero Zombie movies after Day, where the original films are revered but the sequels that come years after feel flat.

Infernal Affairs

Hong Kong film in which both the Police and a Mobster both send someone to infiltrate the other and therefore it's a race to find out the mole in their organization first. Loved it at the Cinema and it was thrilling watching it years after. Loved the scene where both the Police Chief and Mob Head look at their men to see who the infiltrator could be. Need to watch The Departed again.

Ichi The Killer

Rather violent but way too long film in which a sadistic Hitman is on the hunt for his missing boss and fellow killer. It's earned it's reputation for it's violence and gore and in a way, I'm kinda surprised the BBFC passed it really.

Mighty Ducks Are The Champions

My favorite Disney Live Action Film in which Emilio Estevez is sentenced to Community Service therefore he has to coach the worst Junior Ice Hockey Team in Minnesota. Definitely has the clichés but I love the final match at the end. Disney produced this film because they wanted to promote their NHL Team that were starting their 1st Season.

Ichi the killer all uk versions are still slightly cut by 3min 15 secs.


https://www.dvdcompare.net/compariso...m.php?fid=2230

R2 United Kingdom- Cine Asia - Yes - 3m 15s - "UK Theatrical" version (120:04 PAL).
R2 United Kingdom- Premier Asia / Hong Kong Legends - Yes - 3m 15s - "UK Theatrical" version (120:04 PAL).
R2 2-Disc Edition United Kingdom- Premier Asia / Hong Kong Legends - Yes - 3m 15s - "UK Theatrical" version (120:04 PAL).
R2 3-Disc Special Collector's Box Set United Kingdom- Premier Asia / Hong Kong Legends - Yes - 3m 15s - "UK theatrical" version (120:04 PAL).