I adored this when i saw it over Christmas.

I watched Berserker back in 2012. just re-read my review. I really enjoyed it. :lol:

It's about Nordic legend. How can you not like it? Plus the creature fights Bart the Bear. Great stuff.

Last week finally managed to dig into by BU collection Vigilante was the 1st pick, Death Wish style, with no woke message lol, the bad guys die. end of movie, still is enjoyable

Second movie, Daughters of Darkness, was a snoze fest, I was expecting something more like Vampyres from Larraz, but it end up to be more a artsy movie - good soundtrack at least, but everything else was quiet boring..

It'll be interesting to see if Daughters of Darkness stays with you even though you didn't rate it as it's generally seen as an excellent film.

I for one really like it. The bathroom scene is brilliant.

Maybe it was the RUNNER glove that put me off :lol:

Death On The Nile. 2022.

While on holiday in Egypt, Hercule Poirot is drawn into a murder of a young heiress on the boat he and other holiday makers are on.

Murder On The Orient Express wasn't really that great, I only managed to sit through a hour or so of this before switching it off, this was painful to watch, some people can act in good films but others shouldn't. Did the writers read the original source and decide to add in extra what is the point characters? Seriously stick with the original 1970s film, it's more entertaining than this.

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The Exorcism Of God. 2021.

American Priest Father Williams is possessed during a exorcism which causes him to sin against the church. Years later in Mexico the same demon appears and he is forced to do battle again with the demon and hopes to win this time.

Ok here we have another exorcism movie but with a twist, it's not a rip-off from the ones I have previously watched...thankfully and this was enjoyable, the acting from start to finish was good, even Geoffrey from Fresh Prince can be a convincing man of the cloth. There may be a few sexual topics but never over done, I wasn't on the edge of my seat but decent enough for a second watch.

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THE 13TH WARRIOR (1999)

An Arab ambassador joins a group of Viking warriors to help a village who has been attacked by an ancient evil from the mountains which arrives in the mist and kills and then takes the heads of the villagers.

A bit of a box office bomb on release this one. Ah, but who cares?
I saw this at the cinema and thought it was good.
Good atmospheric scenes in the mist, most notably the fire snake which comes down from the mountain. Lots of action as the Vikings take on the headhunters and take the fight to the evil lair.

I too saw The Thirteenth Warrior at the pictures. A true underrated film if ever there was one in my opinion.

Watched THE BATMAN at the weekend and was surprised how good it was/how good Pattacake was as the dark vigilante.
Would NEVER had guessed the penguin was Colin Farrell though!

Give me the darkness of the Gotham world over Marvel anyday.
Be it Keaton,Bale or Pattison,the Dark Knight rules.

No Time To Die. 2021.

Daniel Craig's last outing a Bond, some parts of it were enjoyable, still yet why did the pre credits sequence have to drag on for nearly 20 minutes, but ended up giving up, it's really not any better than the second time round for me.

Ghostbusters: Afterlife. 2021.

Second time watching this one and it's better than the first time and able to pick up on bits that I missed or really didn't get from the first time round. Some quirky jokes and good humour and Ray Stantz admitting he'd been in the slammer and few nods to the original movie.

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Weekend At Bernie's. 1989.

Two office staff Larry and Richard try to pretend that their murdered employer is really alive, leading the hitman to attempt to track him down to finish him off.

Who ever said you can't have fun with the dead is wrong, Andrew McCarthy and Jonathan Silverman manage to pull it off with Terry Kiser and with Ted Kotcheff directing them in this 80s comedy. It is something that would never actually work but the black humour makes it funny. Don Calfa who plays the rusty hitman brings more laughter to the screen when he thinks his intended target is still alive and well. Brilliant Summer film to watch.

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Dementer (2019)

I'm presuming leaving a bloody cows heart under the bed of a patient with downs syndrome isn't generally in the job description of a care home carer.

Not your typical Occult thriller, in fact quite original really, i'm not sure how much of this was scripted or was filmed simply with actors ad libbing life in a care home but on the whole this was an interesting experience with chaotic Occult flashbacks that were mirrored in the finale.

Her boss didn't seem too impressed about the heart :lol:

I liked this one but I wouldn't say I 'enjoyed' it with the subject matter being a bit heavy, but it's certainly good.

It's a film that was rather heavy. I doubt it'll ever become comfort viewing. Should i watch Land of the Dead, Withnail and I or Dementer? Hmm, not really.

I did prefer Jug Face as it was more of an an enjoyable experience but even that's pretty heavy.

Don't really have the patience for a slow burner.....Dememter is still on the to watch list....

A classic rental back in the day,even funnier when you were having a toke of the old resin.....:tongue1:

Summer Holiday. 1963.

Somewhat totally outdated, daft, yet still entertaining to watch after not seeing it for so many years and still whistled with Cliff Richard singing "Summer Holiday",got that song in my head now :lol: But there is some nice in and around Athens and noticeable moments when you realise they are not outdoors but in a studio, helped pass time by.

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Race For Your Life, Charlie Brown. 1977.

The Peanut gang head to summer camp and participate in a boat race against three bullies and their cat.

This brought back some childhood memories of watching this during the summer holidays, and as remembered it shows all four seasons during the film and Peppermint Patti holding a democracy for everything. The plot is predictable but does have the good comedy elements, where else would you see a dog and bird ride a motorbike :lol:

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Bloodsport. 1988.

An American martial artist leaves the army to take part in a three day fighting competition called "Kumite" where deaths can occur.

Based on the real story of Frank Dux...which reports say it's fabricated, JCVD plays Dux who wants to honor his mentor in participating in a blood/death match. Bolo Yeung plays the current fighting champ and you know some of the fighters aren't really gonna be a match for him. Donald Gibb plays the other American Jackson who has no real fighting skills but does bring some laughs to the screen. Some decent choreographed fighting scenes.

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Bloodsport 2. 1996.

Alex Cordo is caught trying to steal a Kitano Sword and thrown into a Bangkok prison. Inside he is beaten by a prison guard Demen and fellow prisoners. He meets old man Sun who trains him with a fighting style, when they hear of the Kumite, Demen who is champion, Alex tries to compete.

Daniel Bernhardt stars as Alex who is a jewel thief in Hong Kong while James Hong plays the old mentor and even Pat Morita shows up but isn't a fighter or trainer. Ong Soo Han plays Demen (or Demon as they say) as they brutal prison guard and Kumite champion. Donald Gibb returns as Jackson who is the American manager to a few people and still brings a bit of comedy with his character. The fight scenes are a bit better in this but the plot line itself seems to drag on a bit too much, entertaining enough.

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Bloodsport III. 1996.

After the death of Master Sun in a bombing attack, Alex uses his fighting skills and enters a Kumite tournament run by a crime boss.

Apart from James Hong and Pat Morita appearing along side Daniel Bernhardt, both Hong and Morita in small roles, this has very little going for it. John Rhys Davies plays the crime boss and even his talents as a actor is wasted. Even for background noise this was a waste, like the Kickboxer movies, this is where I will stop.

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Manhattan Baby (1982)

Using Stoker's Jewel of the Seven Stars as it's primary inspiration, Lucio Fulci's Manhattan Baby fails on so many levels. The story is a difficult one to make interesting for cinema goers as other film makers (The Awakening, Blood From the Mummy's Tomb) have found out. To that end Fulci adds elements from The Exorcist into the mix as the film spirals into an incoherent mess.

Having said that, the film isn't just about the sum of it's parts, it's almost a series of vignettes thrown together from which Fulci hoped to assemble some sort of story. Sadly they don't. What we do get is a nicely shot movie with good Egyptian and New York location work with each sequence adding it's own weirdness to the overall film. Barely five minutes passes without something horrific or interesting happening, meaning, despite it's story line or lack of it, the film still has a lot of entertainment value. Take the bird attack at the finale. It's resplendent with trademark Fulci gore yet also shockingly amateurish in it's execution. Despite all these 'things' happening Manhattan Baby lacks thrills and it isn't in the least bit gripping.

As a final thought it's worth asking why on earth Fulci thought the extremely irritating Giovanni Frezza would be a good addition as a child actor. He was bad enough as Bob in House by the Cemetery withoud him showcasing his talents here as well.

Manhattan Baby may be from Fulci's classic era but it isn't classic Fulci, it isn't even good Fulci but it is weirdly watchable Fulci. In a fashion.

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SUPERMAN RETURNS (2006)

Superman returns to Earth after years away looking for remnents of the Planet Krypton..

When I saw this at the cinema I was blown away by the opening titles and loud music. Transported back to 1978 and the original movie.
This is what this movie is, a love letter to the original movies and forgetting about Superman III thankfully.
Brandon Routh does a good job as Superman and Clerk Kent, getting the mannerisms of Christopher Reeve's Kent down to a tee.
Kate Bosworth I thought was a good Lois Lane as well.
Some good, quite sad scenes here, helped along by the music as Superman tries to find his place again with Lois having moved on.
The meeting of Superman and Lois on the rooftop and the flight similar to the first movie is also good.
Originally I did not like the Superman suit too much but it has sort of grown on me now.
The movie did not do as well as the studio hoped and a planned sequel in 2009 was scrapped. Bah!

My autograph.
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The Film which introduced me to Jean-Claude Van Dam me and one of my best blind buys ever. I'm actually amazed that I didn't wear out my VHS of it.

Amazing Soundtrack and delivers vast amounts of Fighting Action along with Van Damne being chased all over Hong Kong by a future Oscar Best Actor.

Took me a while to realize that the guy who's Leg was broken by Chong Li was Michel Qussi, who played Tong Po in Kickboxer I & II

Needless to say a Extra packed UK Blu-Ray is too long overdue. it's 35 years old next year.

Bloodport 4 is better than III but it's not essential like Kickboxer III. Daniel Bernhardt is in but playing a different characters, weird.

Anyway if you are currently into American Martial Arts Films allow me to recommend some favourites of mine:

The Cage 1 & 2, which stars Lou Ferigno and Reb Brown.

Shootfighter, this has Bolo Young starring as a good guy and Karate Kid Reunion of William Zabka and Marin Love. Shootfighter 2 and Enter The Shootfighter were ok.

Ring Of Fire & Rage: Ring Of Fire 2, stars Don "The Dragon" Wilson (Still love his Films,) story of warring L.A. Kickboxing Gangs.

Showdown, modern retelling of The Karate Kid starring Billy Blanks.

If you are into Swordfighting Films, I recommend, Ring Of Steel, American Samurai (David Bradley) and Gladiator Cop.

Disclaimer, these Films weren't win any Best Actor/Script Awards but they do the job as advertised.

A quality in Films I hold quite dear

Will get them checked out if I can, thank you very much :thankingyou:

I want a UK blu of this one, I was even looking earlier in the month haha, there is an American one with Timecop on it which I might have to buy.

Timecop I was never a fan of, think I watched it about twice since it came out in the 90s, didn't than span a sequel without JCVD?

I’ve never seen Timecop actually! It’s the only Blu you can get though although I think there might be a German one with just Bloodsport.

I’m off buying movies for a little while until I get my to-watch pile down a bit, the BFI and HMV PC sales have done me in haha

Until next time you go out! :D

Ever seen Two A Penny? A Cliff film with a difference ;)

Yet to manage it in one sitting.....

X – Ti gets it right with this sweaty tale of porn-makers out in wilds. TCM references are a given – we’re in Texas, it’s the seventies, awful things are happening, power tools or not – but the undercurrent of the melancholy of the languishing and the lost points more towards something like ‘Tourist Trap’, even in the absence of telekinetic dolls. Of course, the director being who he is, most of the movie is a patchwork of quotes one way or another. But once again he shows his facility for brewing looming menace with lingering long shots and, as with ‘House Of The Devil’, the steady build is thick with woozy atmosphere before hot spurts of splatter gore up the climax. Excellent, I thought.

HARD ROCK ZOMBIES – What a trainwreck. This misfiring ‘horror comedy’ glories in its ineptitude, and you can’t help but join it, although be warned – any cheap laughs stemming from the awfulness might stick in the throat. A bunch of Kiss imitators turn into zombies who do robotics. Hitler’s in it for a little while, along with dwarves and a severed hand. My rictus grin might’ve faded long before the credits, but as cheapskate skid row shite full of random weirdness goes, I’d take this over ‘Surf 2’ any day.

LEVIATHAN – Somewhere, in a place with lots of shadowy corridors and side-rooms, some humans are trapped in with a hostile alien. Actually, we’re under the ocean – ‘Leviathan’ was made at that point in the late eighties when there was a spate of underwater creature features, and here we are in some kind of subaquatic mine / research facility owned by fish-eyed Meg Foster, who definitely isn’t the embodiment of corporate evil. ‘Leviathan’ doesn’t have the gravitas of ‘The Abyss’ (thankfully) and soon shows its hand as a merry rip-off of ‘The Thing’ when it unleashes a few bolts of nonsense body horror; although Stan Winston is no Rob Bottin here, he’s at least creative enough to provide a fleeting Y’golonac moment when someone’s palm unaccountably opens up a fanged maw. Peter Weller and a few familiar faces just shrug and get on with it. As workmanlike retreads go, I liked it.

SCHIZOID – Members of a therapy group are being slashed one by one. Klaus Kinski is their psych-doc, so I’d say being murdered by an unknown assailant might be the least of their worries. ‘Schizoid’ doesn’t really go in for the brash approach of a cheap teen slasher, pitching itself more as a murder mystery / giallo, something with a bit of taste, although it has no taste. There’s something slightly off-kilter about it, however – bloopy synths on the soundtrack go haywire now and again, things pop out from odd angles – hey! It’s a horse’s skull… does that mean something bad’s about to happen? Maybe it’s a Cannon thing. Not gory, but there’s a brutality to some of the kills, plus a slight salaciousness when dildo Klaus does his sleazy dad routine. Needed a pinch or two of something else, but OK.

Never seen it but is one you recommend Demon?

Great to hear your thoughts of Ti West's X, Frankie.

It was one i was going to save for either October or Christmas.

It's ... just different. It's on YT. The things you find etc .... ;):behindsofa:

Delta Force 2: Colombian Connection

Chuck Norris is back and this time, he's in Colombia in order to get revenge on Billy Drago who murdered his friend. Remembered it being decent back in the day but whilst it's adequate, there's definitely better Films of it's ilk out there.

But there's nothing wrong with a One Man Army destroying a Colombian Drug Ring. John P. Ryan co-stars as a bit looney Commander.

Gladiator

No not the Russell Crowe one nor the 1986 one that stars Ken Wahl, this is the forgotten 1992 Boxing Film which sees James Marshall and Cuba Gooding Jr. (Not sure if this was before or after starring in A Few Good Men) fall foul of unscrupulous Boxing Promoter (Played brilliantly by Brian Dennehy) I really enjoyed this still, Dennehy is completely believable in his role, the only knock is that the every punch in the Boxing Scenes seem to be Power Shots (Think Rocky Movies)

Can't be many Films that have the same title at least 3 times and not be a Sequel or Re-make.

The Help

Emma Stone writes a book telling the stories of Housekeepers in Mississippi. Good Film with great performances from Bryce Dallas Howard as the mean, controlling boss and Jessica Chastin who's as kind as Howard was mean. Octavia Spencer and Viola Davis co-star in a cast which in 2022 is pretty loaded.

I do wonder if Minnie was calling Hellie's bluff with the Pie lol.

BASEketball

Trey Parker and Matt Stone star in a Sports Comedy in which 2 friends create a Sport which takes off but fall out when changes to the Sport's Rule Guide are applied. You know what you are going to get and it does have it's funny moments.

Ring Of Fire

Don "The Dragon" Wilson is a Doctor who is caught in the middle of 2 rival Kickboxing gangs in L.A. as his Cousin is the leader of one gang and is dating the Sister of the head of the other gang. Nice Action scenes and there is some resemblance of a plot (Even though loosely basing it on Romeo & Juliet wasn't expected. Gary Daniels has a role in this too.

Still have a soft spot for Wilson Movies as I rented many of them back in the day and this was from that time period (1991) where Video Shops had many Films that starred Kickboxers/Martial Artists.

Those were the days, they were my type of Films.

Like Brittany Snow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1WaV2x8GXj0

Because people don't realise that the actual story that inspired the movie was the time Don "the dragon" Wilson went on a three day bender and kicked Johnny Cash's Ring into the stratosphere, it's still orbiting to this day...

Cuz i'm a sad bastard that's drunk and has been up all night. Ahoy yer one eyed bastard...

Everybody Loves Sunshine (1999, Andrew Goth)

Geezer flick with Goldie and the Bowie.
Filmed in the Liverpool, set in Manchester :lol:
When two brothers get released from jail, their world outside has changed, or have they?
Since the director plays the main character, I was all set for Breen style nonsense. What I got was a great jumble of cliches :lol:
DB plays it cockernee for no reason that I could see, but he's barely in it anyhow. This was on the list because ... well, you've all seen what I watch :laugh:

THE APPOINTMENT. (1981)

Edward Woodward stars as a father whose uneasy relationship with his daughter takes a turn for the worse, when a works appointment stops him from attending her music concert.
Beginning with a startling pre credits sequence of the ghostly abduction of a schoolgirl, this becomes a slow burner full of eerie atmosphere, leading to a truly gripping ( and incredibly well filmed ) finale.
I thought the Flipside series lost its way a couple of years ago with some dubious releases, but since then it’s really got back on track and this creepy thriller from Lindsey Vickers is a terrific addition to the series. Highly recommended.