What Films Have You Seen Recently? - Page 1658

Delirium · #**16571** 7th October 2012, 09:31 PM

The American Astronaut

Now this was a pleasant surprise. I'm trying to clear up bits that have been sitting on my shelf for years and unwrapped this. I even forgot why I bought it, so rather than google it, I chucked it in the player with curiosity.

What we have is a perfect midnight movie. A low budget space western with music numbers. Think a micro-budget, sci-fi Rocky Horror meets Eraserhead, and a whole lot of fun. Writer/director Cory McAbee also stars as the lead in a plot almost too bonkers to outline (basically some space trader delivering various odd shipments to different planets, while pursued by an arch nemesis). He's the lead singer of a band, The Billy Nayer Show, who provide the soundtrack - and what wonderfully offbeat numbers they are too (there's even a song called 'the Girl With The Vagina Made of Glass')

But it's quirky in a very, very good way, the poppy/rockabilly soundtrack genuinely catchy, and I was really quite taken with it. After showing the missus some highlights, she's decided she'd like to sit down and watch it too, so another viewing is on the cards.

I don't usually post youtube clips, but this scene was a highlight and sums up the loopy style of the film:

PaulD · #**16572** 7th October 2012, 10:14 PM

The American Astronaut is a fantastic film!

SShaw · #**16573** 7th October 2012, 10:23 PM

Took the opportunity to see Looper at the local Cinemaxx following the largely positive feedback aorund the web. Got to say I was disappointed. WHile the central ideas are certainly interesting I found that the film was a bit on the dull side.

Frankie Teardrop · #**16574** 7th October 2012, 10:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

I've wanted to see I ZOMBIE for ages after seeing Parkinson's DEAD CREATURES which I enjoyed in all it's bleakness. It gets compared to Mike Leigh's films and that's not a bad way of describing it, though the twitches and body jerks in this are more due to decay and cravings rather than the annoying improvised twitches that often pass as characterisation in Leigh's films.

"Secrets and lies, why can't we share our PAIN?"
Yeah, I know what you mean - although sometimes that improvised stuff really works, like in 'Naked', where you can believe they threw out the script and just wired David Thewlis's brain to some kind of amphetamine electrode attached to Mark E Smith's gob.

Just seen the exact opposite of a Mike Leigh film - DETENTION. What's with all this crazy post modern bollocks going on in horror at the moment? If you thought 'Cabin in the Woods' was grating, you wouldn't want to go within spitting distance of this one. It's just an insane barrage of pop culture references delivered in a whirlwind of the cinematic equivalent of text-speak. I can't begin to describe the 'plot' without using a string of unrelated words and phrases along the lines of "American high school, random slasher, nineties references, time travelling bear, C&C Music Factory, Cronenberg's 'The Fly' a la jock, nineties references, film within a film within a film within a (slasher) film, UFO, nineties references, keyboard guitar, 1992, grody etc etc etc". Can't decide whether I quite liked it or f*cking hated it, and I'm not sure whether I could be arsed to watch it again to find out, but I suppose I'm quite heartened by the fact that studios are putting this deliriously non-mainstream kind of thing out.

Make Them Die Slowly · #**16575** 7th October 2012, 10:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

"Secrets and lies, why can't we share our PAIN?"
Yeah, I know what you mean - although sometimes that improvised stuff really works, like in 'Naked', where you can believe they threw out the script and just wired David Thewlis's brain to some kind of amphetamine electrode attached to Mark E Smith's gob.

Just seen the exact opposite of a Mike Leigh film - DETENTION. What's with all this crazy post modern bollocks going on in horror at the moment? If you thought 'Cabin in the Woods' was grating, you wouldn't want to go within spitting distance of this one. It's just an insane barrage of pop culture references delivered in a whirlwind of the cinematic equivalent of text-speak. I can't begin to describe the 'plot' without using a string of unrelated words and phrases along the lines of "American high school, random slasher, nineties references, time travelling bear, C&C Music Factory, Cronenberg's 'The Fly' a la jock, nineties references, film within a film within a film within a (slasher) film, UFO, nineties references, keyboard guitar, 1992, grody etc etc etc". Can't decide whether I quite liked it or f*cking hated it, and I'm not sure whether I could be arsed to watch it again to find out, but I suppose I'm quite heartened by the fact that studios are putting this deliriously non-mainstream kind of thing out.

Though, I'm not a fan of the post modern horror film, you sold it to me with "time travelling bear".

Frankie Teardrop · #**16576** 7th October 2012, 10:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

Though, I'm not a fan of the post modern horror film, you sold it to me with "time travelling bear".

Erm, it may not be worth the price of admission.

Make Them Die Slowly · #**16577** 7th October 2012, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

Erm, it may not be worth the price of admission.

I'm going to have to buy it now just to see if you are right. You're not one of those viral advertisers are you, and I've just been double bluffed into buying it?

I just watched the trailer and it doesn't look my sort of thing at all. Then again, I thought that with Danny Dyer and ghost films but I'm loving them both at the moment. To be honest I'm willing to give anything a go at the moment as my 'to watch pile' fills me with loathing each time I look at it. I never thought I'd get bored of SWV and bullet bras.