Well I found it interesting and informative.:pop2:

I already knew the trivia :lol:

The Impossible (2012)

An incredibly harrowing but life affirming true story account of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that devastated Thailand from the point of view of a family who lived it.

Ewan McGregor and Naomi Watts are both brilliant, especially Watts, as a regular couple on holiday for Christmas with their three children when the tsunami strikes. Some magnificent special effects pull you in during the first half hour and then it's human drama all the way as the five try and find each other amidst all the devastation. A special mention to a young Tom Holland as Lucas, one of the couples three children. His performance is quite something in what was his debut role.

A genuine disaster movie with a proper emotional edge, this will put you through the wringer i guarantee. Even second time round as this was for me.

The Blu-ray looks stunning and sounds equally brilliant.

Recommended

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RETURN OF THE VAMPIRE (1943)

Vampire Armand Tesla is free again after the stake driven in his heart in WWI is removed after a bombing raid later in WWII..

I had not seen this in a while so good to revisit. Really enjoyed watching this one through again.
Bela plays the vampire Tesla as Dracula in all but name and it really feels like it could be a Universal movie.
Good atmospheric scenes of the graveyard, a reluctant werewolf and vampire hunter Lady Jane make this a recommendation.

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FINAL EXAM (1981)

College kids studying for their 'final exam' are being killed by a knife wielding maniac..

Quite a slow burner this one. Apart from a killing at the start of the movie, most of the running time is taken up by the stupid activities of a frat group. Only in the about the last half hour does the killer start his rampage, doing in most of the cast one after the other in that thirty minutes.
For me, the best part is that you have no idea who this killer is. You see him clearly face on but he has no background, no name and no motivation for his killings. That's the most frightening part.

Yep, scariest part is serial killers are just everyday Joe bloggs as they say hiding in plain site. Tend to be the least unlikeliest ppl you would you suspect, and that’s is extremely frightening.

Saw (2004)

As good a film as Saw is i've always thought it a bit of a one trick pony and when you know the resolution it's a kind of one watch film so Saturday night on Blu-ray was only my second ever watch of this classic film. Twice in 20 years, haha.

There's a bit more to it than my memory remembered - i'd forgotten all the back story for a start and genuinely recalled it as being two men trapped in a room and that was that.

Second time round i once again found it really enjoyable if not as gory as i thought, although things will definitely improve in that department in subsequent films, but one questioned nagged me all the way through. How come neither Elwes nor Whannel - the two trapped - noticed that Jigsaw - the body supposedly dead in the center of the room - had to be breathing and clearly wasn't a corpse.

I hope everyone has seen Saw :lol:

In the length of time they was in the room must have been ages, make one wonder how someone can remain so still without a single movement, cough, sneeze or anything else for so long.

But got to admit one hell of a surprise twist ending that no one saw coming ..

Both points you make are very true. Perhaps he moved when they were otherwise occupied you know, sawing their feet off, that sort of thing.

Damn, that's another plot spoiler isn't it. :lol:

When it's been 20 years it's you're own fault if you get spoiled :lol:

Exactly, yes.

Twenty years and nine bloody sequels. :lol:

Saying that though, no spoils for Saw III onwards :lol: :pound:

The Autopsy of Jane Doe (2016)

Following yesterdays discussion on another thread i decided to give this a second viewing. Brilliantly it stands up to a second watch with ease.

Without going into any plot detail other than to say it's a film about a pair of mortuary attendants as played by the equally excellent Brian Cox and Emile Hirsch who late one night are brought an unknown and beautifully preserved body by the local police force who need to find out immediately about the death of the unknown person christened Jane Doe as are all female unknowns.

It's still a riveting experience from it's opening moments. I found it tense and creepy, bordering on the scary throughout with some wonderful ambient sounds making it also a truly immersive experience. I'll just add that i'd forgotten the final reveal of who our Jane Doe is / was and thought it terrific.

I said back in December 2017 it was probably the best horror film of that year. Well i'm struggling to think of any better since.

I hope you are enjoying yourself in the world of Tweedledum and Tweedledee. :lol:

Blood on Satan's Claw (1971)

This grizzly folk horror about the skull of the devil Behemoth accidentally dug up in an early 18th century field in England which slowly comes back to life by growing parts of itself on the local village children seemed the perfect film to watch following The Autopsy of Jane Doe.

This film is probably the finest example of folk horror there is and one of the very best British horror films produced to this day. Director Piers Haggard's film is a terrifying brew of witchcraft and superstition with exemplary camera work that puts the viewer practically at one with nature and the English countryside. It's also enhanced by a brilliantly eerie and beautiful score from Marc Wilkinson.

I really 'enjoyed' this film. To be honest i'm not so enamoured of horror films so much these days and prefer crime/mystery/psychological thrillers (although many can be horror adjacent). This one made my nerves jangle, and would be my pick of the past decade or so, along with 'Saint Maud'.

Saint Maud was excellent.

I meant to have a look at what films had come after Jane Doe to see if any were better in my eyes but forgot.

I really enjoyed The Pope's Exorcism when i saw that in December.

I also highly rate Saint Maud and think I have seen it three times, noticing different and new things with each viewing.


Did you mean The Pope's Exorcist, the film starring Russell Crowe? I haven't seen it, but the premise sounds interesting.

I dont watch many horrors these days, very rarely a proper decent horror comes along anymore, each to their own but likes of Terrifier not my scene anymore, might have been when I was younger, golden age of horror is 70s to me, nowadays they just keep churning out sequel, prequels, spin off, reboots etc etc to same old same old films now, another saw anyone, Netflix Tcm well tbh the less said the better it was garbage in the highest form and not even in a good or entertaing way either,
Pearl
Abrakadabra
Last night in soho are modern day masterpieces imo,
Much prefer likes of A24 films, vast majority well made, decent storyline, well acted, plot, tension atmosphere etc etc something a vast majority of films lack these days, problem a lot of ppl have with A24 they tend to be slow burners and some ppl just can?t cope with that,
The witch
Blackcoats daughter
In fabric
The lighthouse
Midsommar

Are just a few great one these days.

Carver (2008)

A group of friends visit a backwoods USA bar where the owner says they can cash the night at an old cabin he uses for storage in the woods. Once there they discover film reels and a projector and the contents seem to be real murders. It's not long after that the group become the target for two lunatic brothers intent on making more snuff films.

There's a scene about 45 minutes in involving pliers and testicles and, well, let's say, talk about wince inducing. I looked at Milly next to me and uttered the word "Shit", as she snored totally ignored me. For any guys reading this. Be warned. You'll spend the rest of the evening trying to talk your nuts back into their sack.

Although a little slow to begin Carver ends up a grimy and very nasty little horror film created on grainy film stock that would have been banned outright in the eighties.

Dragon Wars (2007)

Excellent Korean movie set in Los Angeles with a largely American cast, including Robert Forster.

I actually can't remember what it was about - was there a plot? - other than dragon mayhem and chaos in LA as huge creatures battle it out among the streets and skyscrapers swatting tanks and choppers away like flies.

At 85 minutes it never out stays it's welcome and proved a great spectacle and thoroughly enjoyable all round.

At least nobody has their bollock squeezed in graphic detail until it bursts in this.

Fade To Black. 1980.

Dennis Christopher plays young shy Eric who seems to the target for bullies and takes inspiration from some films to exact his revenge while dressed up in a few characters he seems to admire. Eve Brent is the crippled not so loving aunt who realises her wheelchair is not for wheelchair use and Mickey Rourke meets a gunslinger that looks like Yul Brynner from Westworld and a Marilyn Monroe look a like who our killer seems to be attracted to.

This is between a slasher and full blown psychological film but doesn't exactly lean towards to either genre but certainly has it's entertaining moments especially with Tim Thomerson being a police criminologist who seems very sympathetic/empathetic towards Eric who seems to be like a anti-hero and we want to see the bullies get a bit of karma brought their way.

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I've read the theory that Jigsaw took a Paralytic Drug which stopped him moving.

Also working in a Cinema, this was a surprise hit, it got moved into the 2nd biggest screen, the day after release. It nearly sold the screen out for it's late screening. It's one where the audience reaction to him rising up is something.

I saw it's 1st screening on release day and was in that screening as well.

Beekeeper

Jason Statham is a former Special Operative who gets revenge on the people who stole money from a friend of his. A surprise hit, this is now on Sky Cinema and it's still really good. Statham plays the somewhat psychopathic hero with a somewhat sadistic streak really well and is believable. The bad guys are so slimy and cocky that you want them to be got. It loses it's way near the end but it's still worth a watch.

Wishmaster 3: Devil Stone

The Djinn invades the body of slimy Professor played by Jason Connery and battles Teacher's Assistant by AJ Cook whose Boyfriend is invaded by the spirit of St. Michael. It's good when the wishes are made but the series is going downhill with this one. Luckily I picked it up with Wishmaster 4 from a CEX for a quid each.

It's a shame because Wishmaster was a very pleasant surprise when it first come out and still holds up.

Suburbia (1983)

An excellent coming of age drama about a group of homeless punks (The Rejected) in 1983 Los Angeles who squat in an abandoned housing district and come into conflict with nearby residents as well as a band of wild dogs.

Directed by cult film maker Penelope Spheeris who cast genuine punks from the area including Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers and regular of the LA scene Chris Pederson. This casting isn't a stunt and it works superbly giving the most accurate depiction of the hardcore punk scene at the time. Spheeris gets everything right - the attitude, the clothes and of course the music. There are three live performances in the film from D.I., T.S.O.L. and The Vandals which are riveting viewing and generally end in mayhem.

There's a compassion to the film and it's never judgemental, simply unflinchingly raw in it's observation of the youths and their activities.It's not all anarchy though. The church scene and the traumatic finale will leave you in bits.

Last night was a first time viewing and i loved it.

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WATCHMEN (2009) DIRECTORS CUT

Excellent movie based on the graphic novel.
Another movie I had not seen in a long while. Like most adaptations there are some changes from the novel but this is great.
Dark and bloody super hero action set in an alternate 1985.

Martial Law. 1990.

Cynthia Rothrock and Chad McQueen play two cops expert in martial arts, trying to take down a crime syndicate headed by David Carradine and Phillip Tan.

So we got three good stars and all know how to kick assone way or another, different styles of the martial arts with plenty of kick swinging but the plot itself seems a bit daft. At the start we are introduced to a hostage situation and the pizza guy comes in with a order and we know how that would end. For the finale I was hoping that Chad and David would have a decent fight but it didn't take long for the bad guy to go down. Passed the time by for a Saturday morning flick.

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The Beasts Are On The Street. 1978.

A truck crashes into a zoo and releases dangerous animals into a community.

A somewhat 70s disaster film that was made for T.V that does disclose that the animals were under the watchful eye of animal protection...a animal kills a person and very little happens and yet a person kills a animal and everyone goes bat shit crazy...The film does focus on more a lioness looking for her cub who seems to enjoy exploring the open world while a few people try to round up the other animals and avoid being killed. The acting is not the best but you go with it, some good tense moments especially during the hospital scene, yet one person claiming to be in pain, sees a lion and runs out quick....miraculous recovery.

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MOTHER'S DAY - This remake of the Charlie Kaufmann original seems at first to swap schlock for smoothness, but soon gets the bile flowing with escalating nastiness. A trio of thugs gatecrash a yuppie house party, expecting to find their old residence empty and waiting for them. Better call mum to sort it out cos she's, well, an incredibly vicious criminal psychopath. The original 'Mother's Day' came at the tail end of a time when the genre tested the facade of middle-class bliss and its touchstones of family and property, and you can see echoes of that in this film, where credit-crunch era anxieties light the touch paper and suburbanites get vicious. If there's something a bit perfunctorily 2010s about the look, feel, construction etc, then the torture-porn ickiness that rears its head more than few times is gnarly and compelling, and Rebecca De Mornay and Jaime King are good as the film's two warring mothers. Part of a decade long trend of 'horror classic' remakes that generally tried to out-nasty the originals. Well worth a stab.

TRICK OR TREATS - Basically an hour of a kid taunting his babysitter with bad magic tricks, then a bit at the end with an angry guy and a knife. This failing 'Halloween' spoof might've been intended as a comedy; it's a hard film to grasp, but the question is, is it worth trying? Maybe I'm exposing myself as slightly too much of a traditionalist when I say this, but in my opinion, slashers need a good gimmick - even the dude in 'The Final Exam' had a green coat. The disgruntled husband who brings on the 'menace' in 'Trick Or Treats' looks like he'd be better off in a sit-com. Maybe that's kind of what it's trying to be? A sense of wonderment at all the names involved - Carrie Snodgress, David Carradine, there's even a cameo from Paul Bartel - kept me going somehow. Plus, it does leave you with that feeling you get when you see the lopsided hanging of a bad painting against mouldy wallpaper. Hope it was as painful for them as it was for me.

The Beast In The Cellar. 1971.

Beryl Reid and Flora Robson play two sisters living in a rural cottage in the middle of nowhere, when a army platoon decides to be station in the area, the soldiers begin to turn up gruesomely killed, the dear old sisters may know something about the beast.

This one was great, set in one area that does make you think twice about taking a walk in the woods or countryside to soak in the atmosphere that will be soaked in blood and bodies. The two main female leads are brilliant in this and manage to keep up the secrecy and then it's revealed they know the monster and decide to spill the beans to detective T.P. McKenna who seemed to actually enjoy a bit of late night Jackanory story. Once we find out the beast's identity and the shot of it going up the stairs seems to play a bit of a homage to Nosferatu with only the shadow on the wall being seen.

There is a bit of to much talking and not a lot of kills and we do see the aftermath especially in a shed when a body is found, but does hold your attention and who or what the beast is. One i'd certainly come back and watch again.

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Flyboys (2006)

The film follows the enlistment, training, and combat experiences of a group of young Americans who volunteered to become fighter pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille, the 124th air squadron formed by the French in 1916.

Based on the truth but also derided as inaccurate upon release, Flyboys is a film made up of cliches. Thankfully they are cliches created by the greatest films across the decades, and somehow, helped by a decent cast, including James Franco, Jean Reno and Martin Henderson, and themes of friendship, love and racial prejudice, not to mention some superb aerial dogfights, everything pulls together in one hugely enjoyable slice of classic war entertainment.

Watch this to see a Zeppelin shot down in exciting battle scenes and remember this is more a WW1 Star Wars than it is War Horse or All Quiet on the Western Front.

The Street Fighter. 1974.

Terry a skilled martial artist is hired to kidnap a daughter of a oil tycoon, when his price is refused he then decides to protect the daughter and becomes a wanted man.

Sonny Chiba plays the tough mercenary who knows how to look after himself and not one to be messed with or even upset. Rated as the first X rated action flick and it's no wonder why when a guy is thrown from a building and his head bursts open like a piece of fruit dropped from a great height. The dubbing is all over the place but we get use to films like this. The fight scenes are well choreographed and slowed down in parts so we can see a fist or hand making contact. Nice decent Sunday morning action flick.

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Dolemite. 1975.

Rudy Ray Moore plays Dolemite, a wise cracking jive talking pimp who goes after those who framed him and sent him to prison.

The blaxploitation genre certainly produced some bizarre oddities that's for sure. Dolemite is firmly in this category. On a technical level it's appalling, with bad camera work, acting, action and story.The rough and ready style of Dolemite kind of seems appropriate though, given the nature of the central character, who is a shady bad guy in a pimp suit that you still root for.

What makes this film work is the performance from the lead star. Yes, it's not Oscar winning material but it wasn't meant to be. The point of a film like this is to have fun and gotta say that I thought Rudy Ray Moore was a lot of fun and probably enjoyed making it. I may return to this at some point.

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The Human Tornado. 1976.

Rudy Ray Moore returns as Dolemite this time helping a old friend and her girls fend off some gangsters.

The first film was a fun and somewhat well made movie that became a box office hit...seriously, so a sequel had to follow. This sequel is incredibly daft from the opening credit sequence to the final moment and everything in between is just rather nutty and OTT. There's not a single second where anything you're watching should be taken serious and as long as you're in for a good time then you're bound to have one here.

Rudy Ray Moore was certainly a personality and that leaps off the screen here. I'm not going to call him a brilliant actor but there's no question that the camera loved him and his spirit just makes it impossible to take your eyes off of him when he is jiving in rhymes that can make you laugh out a lot.

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The Blood Splattered Bride. 1972.

A newly wedded wife returns to her husband's family home and is haunted by visions of a bride who murdered her husband.

Another story based on Camilla and the Karstein family, Maribel Martin plays the new bride who goes with her husband Simon Andreu to the family home and begins to suspect something is off with no portraits of any female family members. This is an erotic and gore vampire film with an ambiguous story developed in a nightmarish atmosphere, but having a weak conclusion doesn't make it any memorable than the British horror The Vampire Lovers that came out two years prior to this. Not sure if I will return to this one.

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Cannonball. 1976.

A assortment of people and fast cars run a illegal race from Los Angeles to New York hoping to win a big sum of money.

David Carradine races again this time he isn't killing people just hoping to win some big money with Dick Miller placing a big bet on him to win. There is some cheesey acting, tongue in cheek humour, and Robert Carradine with co pilot Belinda Balaski taking her daddy's car for a race and Gerrit Graham along with his guitar and trying to make a song about the race. Not exactly a big known film but does come with it's own entertainment values that does pass by quickly with some well known people providing a cameo appearance.

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https://www.cult-labs.com/forums/att...1&d=1710692846

I've recently returned from the cinema after watching The Zone of Interest, the film which won the Oscar For Best Film Not in the English Language and another for Best Sound.

This is the only film in the first category I have seen, so am keen to watch Anatomy of a Fall, 20 Days in Mariupol, Past Lives, and Society of the Snow, to see how they compare. I completely understand why this won the Best Sound Oscar because it's a film that is entirely reliant on the carefully curated and designed sound library that Johnnie Burn compiled and created.

At its core, it's a very simple film, one that chronicles the daily life of the Hoess family: Rudolph, Hedwig, and their five children. Rudolph and Hedwig appear to be a loving couple, doting parents, and people - particularly Hedwig - who really like where they live. This wouldn't be unusual except Rudolph Hoess was Auschwitz camp commandant, a man responsible for crimes against humanity.

It is very much about what Hannah Arendt, writing about Adolf Eichmann, termed the banality of evil, and the ordinariness of the Hoess family, whether they are playing in the garden, swimming in the river, or having a family meal. The mass extermination of millions of people is referred once, and only in terms of how it could be done most efficiently.

Yet, despite this, Johnnie Burn's soundtrack provides a constant reminder that what is on the other side of the brick wall by the house - there is an array of different sounds from gunfire to quiet screams, from boots to machinery - and many shots feature chimneys pumping out smoke from the industrial-scale crematoria.

It's abundantly clear that Rudolph Hoess took great pride in his work, and his wife was similarly proud of the garden she curated, showing off the flowers and vegetables alike, whether it's making conversation with baby daughter Annegret or her mother who came to stay and (initially) was very fond of her daughter's living arrangements.

On that, I was really impressed with the performances, particularly Christian Friedel and Sandra Huller, playing Rudolf and Hedwig Hoess, respectively, and the child actors who portrayed their children were all utterly convincing. The costume design really helped evoke the period, and it was interesting to read that the house was recreated from a derelict building near the real house where the Hoess family lived, enhancing the similar architecture to replicate the real house and sow flowers and other plants in the garden so it was fully developed by the time shooting began.

This is something of a departure for Jonathan Glazer, who made his name with music videos such as Blur's The Universal, Radiohead's Karma Police, and Jamiroquai's Virtual insanity, before making the feature films Sexy Beast, Birth and Under the Skin; I didn't think he would make something so serious, thought-provoking, and unsettling about a real person and one of history's darkest times.

I can't say that I enjoyed the film, but it is one I'm glad I saw it at the cinema where the soundtrack and visuals were my complete focus - there weren't any distractions as there will be when I watch this at home - and it is, with Son of Saul, one of the best films about the Holocaust I've seen since Schindler's List, and one of the most powerful films I've seen in a very long time.

'The Aristrocrats' (2005) is a documentary where over 75 of the worlds most popular comedians take an offensive joke, explain it's history, expand on it and deconstruct it

The joke / routine in question is known as 'The Aristocrats', but it's unlikely you will ever have seen it performed by a comedian on stage and even less likely you will have seen on television. It is an old vaudeville sketch which has now become 'a secret handshake? and ?a friend of every comedian in the world' - comics would tell the joke to each other as a warm up for their acts. While the setup and punchline remain the same throughout, the middle section is always varied to get their creativity going by throwing in the most they can and trying to keep it funny. Apparently it is not unknown for versions of the joke to last for over an hour!

The basic joke consists of three parts:

• 1: The Setup. A family act or the head of the family goes to see a talent agent about booking their act. The agent asks what their act consists of...
  
• 3: The Punchline. The shocked agent asks what the act is called, and the proud answer is: "The Aristocrats!"

The second part of the act is where it 'comes alive'. In it, the auditionee describes what the act consists of and this is where the comedian telling the joke gets free rein and improvisation runs riot. Anything goes as long as it is taboo-breaking, offensive and transgressive. Elements including (but not limited to) racism, animal cruelty, incest, rape, child sexual abuse, coprophilia, coprophagia, bestiality, necrophilia, cannibalism, and murder are common themes. Anything goes as long as it is so grotesque and despicable that it makes the work of the Marquis de Sade seem like a jolly greeting card!

Comedians in the films, giving their version of the joke, include Jason Alexander, Hank Azaria. Drew Carey. George Carlin, Billy Connolly, Andy Dick, Phyllis Diller, Carrie Fisher, Whoopi Goldberg, Eric Idle, Howie Mandel, Michael McKean, Martin Mull, Penn & Teller, Emo Philips (who looks unrecognisable from the stand-up comedian I used to watch in the 90's), Kevin Pollak, Paul Reiser, Don Rickles, Chris Rock, Rita Rudner, Harry Shearer, Sarah Silverman, The Smothers Brothers, Rip Taylor, Bruce Vilanch, Fred Willard, Robin Williams, Steven Wright
and the cast of 'South Park'

It's an 'interesting' film, but it depends on how amusing you find people swearing. Sometimes the take on the joke is laugh-out-loud funny, sometimes it is sickening. Sometimes it is clever and other times the description of the act is hard to listen to

Rewatch value: Not much. Although it is an eye-opener watching the comedians working on the routine, once you have head the joke there isn't a lot left

The Aristrocrats is an interesting documentary about a piece of comedy of which I was previously unaware.

I have seen it a couple of times and the only delivery/version of the joke which has stayed with me and would still make me laugh is the South Park version. I can't remember much about any of the others.