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Dog Tags (1987, Romano Scavolini) Vietnam caper. A group of soldiers are sent on a mission. What they find isn't on any map. Finally got to see this one. Stars a bloke who was in The Bill for a while. Traversing a seemingly deserted stretch of that country, they bicker and try not to get blown up. Don't get me wrong, there are fireworks certainly, it's just not that kind of Vietnam flick tbh. Hmmmm. |
M3GAN. Gerald Johnstone. 2022. When young Violet McGraws bickering parents are killed in a tragic car accident she is adopted by her somewhat distant and estranged aunt Gemma. Gemma is a robotics engineer designing interactive toys and she is on the verge of an incredible leap forward in both robotics and AI. The result is the Model 3 Generation Android or M3gan. A four foot tall lifelike android capable of bonding with its child owner and learning to be the ultimate friend. Well how could this possibly go wrong? I think anyone could work out where this is going and the film does so competently enough, however despite the hype that's all this film is, competent. There's potential here with M3GAN's creepy design, the body of child with a weirdly older face, both realistic but given the obviously super advanced tech oddly not as realistic as it could be. Acting is decent enough but stupid decisions and plot contrivance abound. It's fascinating how Gemma's team have been struggling to perfect M3GAN in a fully fitted advanced lab but when the plot fits Gemma finishes knocking her together in the garage at home. Given the intended purpose of M3GAN why the hell is it capable of almost superhuman strength and acrobatic capabilities? Would it not have been wise to make it on the weaker side, just in case... And finally, for the love of God, why not fix the hole in the damn fence. M3GANs a watchable enough time waster but nothing special, certainly not the scare-fest the trailer promised. I can't see me ever returning to it. |
Twelve Angry Men. Sidney Lumet. 1957. During a blazing hot day in New York City, the twelve jurors of a seemingly open and shut murder case must reach a conclusion when one of their number refuses to go along with a guilty verdict. Sidney Lumet's riveting drama is often written up as being a courtroom drama, this isn't really accurate in my mind as only a few seconds at the start of the film take place in the courtroom. The remaining 90 or so minutes take place entirely in a single room, while the frustrated jurors, all men, the twelve angry men of the title, deliberate. Henry Fonda, in a brilliant and measured performance is the sole juror, Juror No.8, who insists the men look into matters further. The other eleven all have varying reasons, from prejudice, narrow mindedness, to one guy who simply doesn't care and wants to get to a baseball game and will go with whichever opinion gets him out of there the quickest. What ensues feels more like a whodunnit as Fonda's character gradually digs deeper into the evidence presented. Persuading each of the men to examine if they're really willing to send a boy to his death in the name of peer pressure or to simply catch a ball game. First time watch for me this classic, and I can see easily why it's held in high regard. The camerawork in the confines of a single room is wonderful, really evoking the sense of claustrophobic tension. Reading through trivia on imdb there's a mention that Henry Fonda complained that the NYC backdrops through the jury room windows looked rubbish and fake. They do, however even before I'd read this bit of trivia I was thinking this actually worked well, heightening even more the sense of isolation, that until these men reach their conclusion the outside world may as well not be real. I'll definitely be watching this brilliant film again. |
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I'd forgotten the Criterion edition to be honest. I shouldn't have as i had it in my basket at one point during the Criterion sale a few weeks back. Criterion aren't all they are made out to be when it comes to supplemental material. |
1 Attachment(s) Martin. 1977. Young Martin believes he is a 84 year old vampire who travels to live with his cousin and quench his thirst for blood. Martin manages to be both a disturbing psychological drama and a genuine horror movie at the same time that leaves it to the viewers imagination as to whether he is a vampire or suffering a mental health problem. John Amplas plays Martin who is given a set of rules by cousin Lincoln Maazel who insists on calling Martin Nosferatu and leaving cloves of garlic around his door. Martin is a strange and bizarre low-budget vampire movie with a totally different story with some black and white sequences that can have you guessing as if they are real things that have happened or just imaginary with some voice over material and a interesting film opening on a train and a great finale. I came across this two years ago on a upload on YouTube and wasn't the best, the 4K UHD release certainly is the dogs bollocks, sharper picture quality, great sound that you can get lost in whats happening around you. Attachment 245920 |
1 Attachment(s) Ghosrbusters. 1984. Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis play the parasycholigist ghost hunters who get spooked by a ghost in a library and go into business for themselves after being kicked out of their campus. Was funny back then as a child and still funny now to this day, poor Sigourney Weaver though getting hit on by Murray then a extra's hand coming up from the chair copping a feel. Rick Moranis does have that creepy loud hearing neighbour ears that you do want to try and avoid but never manage it. Ernie Hudson is the newest recruit who gives out the perfect phrase in a interview "if there is a steady paycheck in it, I'll believe anything you say". With every film there is always one prick and here we get William Atherton playing the EPA guy who doesn't take kindly to be proving wrong and gets a few insults, apparently after filming he wasn't too popular with the audience and crowds of people wanting to punch him. On the up side this has always been a great classic film, in 4K picture quality is not great but not terrible either but the sound is a let down, every so often it has to be turned up or down. Attachment 245921 |
1 Attachment(s) Chillers. 1987. Five people stranded at a bus station decide to pass the time and tell ghost stories. A woman receives swimming lessons from a ghost. A small boy on a camping trip realises his scout leader isn't so friendly. A woman who has a crush on a newscaster finds out he is a vampire. A man has the power to bring back the dead raises a serial killer. A professor of anthropology accidentally awakens the spirit of a Mexican creature that possesses the soul of a class student. I saw a trailer for this back in the early 90s and never thought I'd find it but hey ho thank you to one of those online hidden streams here it is. This has the look that Troma had their hands on, unknown actors that can't act yet still entertaining. Most anthology movies always have a twist at the end but this has the twist at the end of the film like Dr. Terror's House Of Horror nice little touch. This is not a big budgeted movie but worth a look. Attachment 245923 |
1 Attachment(s) Down. 2001. Dutch director Dick Maas gave us De Lift in 1983, almost 20 years later he went to America and gave us his own remake that he written and directed. James Marshall plays the lift engineer who's company Meteor Elevator has installed express lifts in the Millennium Building that is working on its own. Naomi Watts stars as the journalist who thinks something sinister is going on and teams with the engineer. There is a good star cast with Ron Perlman as the company owner of the lifts, Edward Hermann as the building owner who rather concerned of money than accidents happening and Michael Ironside as the German electronics master who is using the lifts for his failed experiments. Maas does keep the original plot in the story and doesn't go over the top with the deaths except a security guard loosing his head...we are stark raving mad at times :lol: There is good build of tense moments and good creative deaths involved. Decent made remake. Attachment 245925 (a.k.a The Shaft) |
Monster Hunter. Paul W.S. Anderson. 2020. US Army Captain Artemis and her squad are deep in the desert on a search and rescue mission to find another missing squad of allies. During an immense sandstorm they find themselves inexplicably transported to an alien world where they find the abandoned wrecked vehicles of their colleagues. Within minutes they're attacked by a colossal creature unlike anything they have ever seen. And so begins a fight for survival and a way home. Look, it's a Paul W.S. Anderson movie. A video game adaptation on top. You should know what to expect. From Anderson favourite and long time Resident Evil actress, Milla Jovovich playing the hard as nails Captain Artemis, to the seeming lack of reason for half of what takes place on screen. However I thoroughly enjoyed this. The rest of Milla's crew are pretty forgettable but charismatic support is provided in Tony Jaa and the always reliable Ron Perlman. Good fun. |
Cat Girl. Alfred Shaughnessy. 1957. Leonora Johnson returns to her ancestral home. A dark, foreboding, rain lashed haunt in the middle of nowhere. She is there with the understanding she is to recieve some sort of inheritance. In doing so she also inherits the family curse of turning into a leopard and killing. Sound familiar? A semi update, unofficial as I understand it of Jacques Tourneur's classic Cat People. There are differences, this film doesn't really bother with subtleties or ambiguity. Also there is an actual leopard ever present and it seems more the case than Leonora's spirit can enter the leopard rather than she becomes one herself. I quite enjoyed this moody little film and it is short enough to not outstay its welcome. Quite atmospheric and also rather bleak, the film was at its best in the first half, where its in more gothic, old dark house territory. The second half sees Leonora enter a sanitirium and subsequently released into the care of her psychiatrist and old flame Dr.Marlowe. Best bit of the film is probably the wonderful Barbara Shelley as Leonora, going from vulnerable and nervous to dangerous and confident as she embraces her curse. An enjoyable little film and as usual the Network dvd looks superb. |
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Thanks. I'll pick this up. It's one i've had my eye on but have never taken the plunge with. I think i was so let down by Jungle Cruise that i've avoided all recent fantasy films since. |
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I've said a few times on here. Give me a film by Paul W.S. over Paul Thomas any day of the week when it comes to Anderson's as directors. |
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I've been to the Würzburg Residence where the grand finale was filmed so it kind of has an affinity with me. |
IN THE FOLDS OF THE FLESH. ( 1970 ) A man returns to the scene of the crime - a killing to which he was convicted and encounters more killings at the castle inhabited by strange characters with even more strange secrets. This really is one of those films you cannot categorise. It does have Giallo elements, but it veers off in so many tangents and with nobody appearing to be who they are, it’s hard to keep up with what’s happening. Entertaining though! THE LIVING DEAD AT MANCHESTER MORGUE. ( 1974 ) An experimental piece of agricultural machinery appears to be at the centre of the revival of the recently dead in Jorge Grau’s gem of a movie. The living dead themselves are tremendously creepy, while their wheezing, groaning is very Fulci like. Did Lucio see this film before he made his classics like CITY OF THE LIVING DEAD? Once you get past Ray Lovelock’s annoying cockney geezer character and get into the living dead revival, just sit back and enjoy this masterpiece of zombie cinema. I used to think Arrow would make a great special edition of this, but not so sure these days. Indicator, maybe? ( we can but hope! ) |
1 Attachment(s) Pacific Heights. 1990. Every so often a film from the past pops up that is begging for a re-watch and this was one of them for today. I am not the biggest fan of Matthew Modine, he was good in Full Metal Jacket and in this he has a character we can sometimes relate to with Melanie Griffith who was still in her prime, starting a new life and get one big hurdle that's Michael Keaton. Fresh from being Batman here he plays the tenant from hell and manages to have the law on his side no matter what he does. Right at the start we see Keaton getting a hammering and it's like why are you guys beating up Batman and as the film goes on your basically saying...they should have beaten him up more and harder. This was a decent paced tense thriller that after not watching this for a few years had me on the edge of my seat almost and just about cheered with the way Griffith planned her revenge. Attachment 245932 |
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Picasso Trigger (Andy Sidaris) Tis the usual caper. A white slaver and a drug dealer are in Molokai Cargo's sights this time. No doubt one of the reasons for the depletion of the ozone layer (beeeg hair a gogo), the gangs all here and willing to peel off at the blink of an eye, all for the good of the investigation naturally cough cough. This is the third time I've watched this one, whilst none of them are quite as looney tunes as Hard Ticket To Hawaii, I've grown to enjoy these folk stumbling through their lines with all the animation of a Trumpton character. :lol::pop2: |
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The last UK release was on Optimum so it’s likely that Studio Canal still holds the license which means if it does come out in HD over here it won’t be a fancy edition. I’d be tempted to buy the Synapse version at some point. As long as it’s good value, the steel book was very over priced. |
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Picture quality is great and it has interviews and a feature length doc on Grau’s films, including contributions from the man himself. I do think it’s good value. |
I have been tempted myself with the synapse release any of their blu rays I have all look amazing prime example Street Trash one of the best looking Blu Rays I own. I have the Blue Underground Blu Ray I'm not sure if there is much improvement. |
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You’d be surprised how much better it looks! |
1 Attachment(s) Serpico. 1973. Befor starring in The Godfather, Al Pacino made Serpico launch him into the limelight, here he plays policeman Frank Serpico who became a whistle blower on police corruption and made him a target with those he works around. This is such a good movie is because of the character, not the plot. The better scenes include Serpico's personal life and struggles from being a patrolman and trying to climb the ladder while facing bullying and people throwing their position about and dealing with his love life. Director Sidney Lumet went with the book and script and rolled with it by creating a great paced tense movie that can keep your attention right from the start to the end credits. Attachment 245944 |
Following conversations in The Gothic Thread today i'm currently watching Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) It's superb. I've laughed more in half an hour than i did at Carry on Camping last night. Unless things go dramatically downhill over the next hour and a half this is easily the best film i'll have seen this year. I'm also playing a drinking game. Every time Richard Burton prepares a drink i have a sip. F*ck me! Don't expect much out of me tomorrow...or Thursday...Friday too probably. |
1 Attachment(s) Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 1994. Hand on heart the 1931 version I do have a soft spot for and The Horror Of Frankenstein certainly is a entertaining version, I first saw this when it came out on VHS thanks to my dad and I couldn't take to it, I found it too long and dull, 30 years later and my attitude towards this has changed. Kenneth Branagh is a amazing actor and director especially with Henry V, watching him go from a historic king to a mad doctor can be laughable. It does build up the character especially with his mother saying about his thirst for knowledge and meeting with John Cleese's character and begging to see his notes on his previous work shows how far the character of Victor's quest for knowledge will go. Tom Hulce plays the new friend who gives out some laughs as he wants to explore anatomy and then faints in class but also has the serious side when he tries to stop Victor in making another abomination. Helen Bonham Carter plays the adopted sister/lover and yet I found her portrayal of the character a bit annoying. Screen legend Robert De Niro as the creature is amazing, he is reborn as something else, rejected, thinks he has found happiness with the blind man only to be abandoned, looking for a mate that doesn't quite work out and then becomes abandoned again. De Niro manages to create a character that we should find hideous yet after going face to face with his creator we end up feeling sad for him. The set design is appreciated in Victors lab, when we see the attic space for the first time and hearing he will have scientific stuff arriving so we know that will be his inventing/creating room. On the night Victor is planning his quest to bring back life, with the background score and him running about does bring some excitement as to how he will do it and manages to create his own electricity without relying on mother nature. Only thing puzzles me and yeah spoiler ahead when Elizabeth is brought back and is running through the house in flames, did the stunt woman intentionally or unintentionally smack her face into the wall??? I will definitely return to this again. Attachment 245949 |
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1 Attachment(s) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966) A history professor and his wife entertain a young couple who are new to the university's faculty. As the drinks flow, secrets come to light, and the middle-aged couple unload onto their guests the full force of the bitterness, dysfunction, and animosity that defines their relationship. What an incredible film this is. Two hours of talk fly by like the most breath taking of action movies. Both Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton are sensational, thankfully George Segal and Sandy Dennis are skilled enough not to get swamped in their punishing acting masterclass. Taylor in particular, she won a Best Actress Oscar for her role, is ferocious, so much so that she stripped the paper from my walls with her verbal savagery as she and real life husband Burton, spit malicious bile at one another across their living room more often than not hitting their younger guests en' route. Taylor is so fierce that were David Hess to barge in for a bit of 'fun' himself he'd quickly get sliced to death by Taylor's barbed tongue or failing that he'd be slumped in a drunken stupor from all the drinks Burton poured him - I've never seen so many drinks prepared in a film before. Still at least after a while everyone is fairly sozzled. The arguments and sizzling dialogue are acutely judged and skillfully directed by Mike Nichols, allowing the actors to really go for it in the spoken equivalents of action set pieces. Nichols knows when to raise the temperature and when to tone it down also. Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? is both punishing, tragically honest and clever, the acid tongues laced with social and psychological pointers on issues which are still relevant today. A first time watch, but it won't be the last. Who's Afraid of Virginia Wolf? is a brilliant film. |
You'll hate me for this D, but Woolf is my favourite kind of horror film. I saw Kenny's take at the pictures at the time, and it was quite impressive (especially the end sequence). Just saying. Scream VI I'm 48 minutes in and the meta is making my teeth hurt. Back shortly!! :laugh::pop2::confused::behindsofa: |
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Kenny's take? Kenny who? Kenny Dalglish, Kenny Everett? :lol: |
The chap who directed Frankenstein? Courtney Cox looks like a creepy doll. Most unsettling. (Scream VI). |
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I think it's going to be Who's Afraid of Elizabeth Taylor? tonight. Aka Zee and Co. Poor Michael Caine. I feel for you already. Seen it once before on dvd so i (mostly) (Well, maybe a little) remember what's coming. |
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