What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by VicDakin

Killing Them Softly
I was expecting some sort of Goodfellas,come Wiseguy knock about badaboom badabing Tarantino-esque swearathon,well there was plenty of swearing,but I was genuinely surprised that it wasn't the Usual Suspect meets Casino.
Brad Pitt has'nt really done anything this good since Seven/Fight Club,and my apprehension meter went into overdrive when I knew he was init.
But low and behold he does more than just be some moving talking eye candy,he manages to keep his usual gurning and smirks to the camera in check and instead gives us more believable quiet menace.Of course no crime film can be without Ray Liotta and James Gandolfini,I think its the law in the states that these two have to be in every film connected with organized crime.
Anybody who enjoyed Andrew Dominik's Chopper with its mixture of humor and sobering violence will not be disappointed.
It also has a great soundtrack and not the usual Sinatra/Dino of the usual mafia films but an eclectic mix featuring Heroin/The Velvet Underground,Windmills Of Your Mind/Petula Clark and The Man Comes Around/Johnny Cash to name a few.
Apparently based on Cogan's Trade by George V. Higgins,which ive never read but judging by the film should be worth seeking out.
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Check out THE ASSASINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. Same director as this and also stars mr pitt. A very good movie imo.

[Frankie Teardrop]

SNUFF - This film tends to be hated by complainers who all seem to have bought into an illusion about it being some kind of acme of transgressive grindhouse horror - it isn't, although the much publicised last few minutes rise to the level of 'Last House on Dead End Street' type scummyness. What is it, then? Well, it runs like an incompetent re-edit of a fairly routine 70s expoitation feature with some spliced on hardgore at the end. But that shouldn't be the final word. Viewed in a certain way, this is a gem of inadvertant psychedelia, with a post-Manson wildcat gang stirring up all kinds of vicious shit in the midst of a fog of cut and paste confusion. It won't mess with your head in the way 'A Night to Dismember' will, but it'll come close. If you can accomodate a bit of padding (mostly limited to its first half, and anyway I dug the weirded out but anodyne carnival sequence), then you'll be letting yourself in for several species of strangeness such as casually tossed in incest memoirs, gratuitous shooting of quaint gran and granddaughter, a brilliantly dumb critique of the German arms trade and... well, I've run out of space already, but suffice to say, even before it pisses against the Fourth Wall it'll kind of piss all over your aesthetic regimen. And I don't like jackals either, but I like this.

THE LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT - The original. Still such a harrowing film! It looks exactly like the kind of movie one might stumble upon in some kind of mouldering cellar beneath the Bowery at midnight, it looks so raw and harsh. It really captures the essence of that sense of grindhouse slime so mythologised these days. Even the questionable stabs at light relief seem sneeringly sadistic given the whole... the pain of the two female leads at the hands of Krug et al is so palpable. "Piss your pants... etc". The film gives out quite ambiguous messages. On the one hand, the target is the middle class American white bread household, reduced to violent rubble by the end, its secret bloodlust now manifest as the truth of class conflict... on the other, the audience is invited to identify with the vengeful rage of the bourgeoise in the same way as 'Daily Mail' readers are expected to cheer when another farmer shoots a burglar. So, subversive or reactionary? Who knows, but definitely exploitative, gruelling and hard hitting. I'll never erase certain moments from my memory - like the bit where Krug forces his son to kill himself, or that scene after Mari's rape where the hoods all look momentarily sickened and depressed at what they've done. On the planet Sorrow, there's no tomorrow etc.

[Pete]

Everything I've watched this year (that I can remember)

Alligator (Lewis Teague, 1980)
Alligator 2 (Jon Hess, 1991)
Amazons and Supermen (Alfonso Brescia, 1975)
Amok Train aka: Beyond the Door III (Jeff Kwitny, 1989)
Ark of the Sun God (Antonio Margheriti, 1984)
At Midnight I will Take Your Soul (Jose Majica Marins, 1964)
Ator: Iron Warrior (Alfonso Bresica, 1987)
Attack the Block (Joe Cornish, 2011)
Bare Behind Bars (Osvaldo De Olivera, 1980 (though some sources state 1987))
Black Sunday aka: The Mask of Satan (Mario Bava, 1960)
Blood Sabbath (Brianne Murphy, 1972)
Blue Tornado (Antonio Bido, 1991)
Body Melt (Philip Brothy, 1993)
Brain Damage (Frank Hennenlotter, 1988)
Brain that Wouldn't Die (Joesph Green, 1962)
A Bucket of Blood (Roger Corman, 1959)
Casablanca Express (Sergio Martino, 1989)
Choke Canyon (Chuck Bail, 1986)
Confessions of a Police Captain (Damiano Damiani, 1971)
Dead End (Jean-Baptiste Andrea, Fabrice Canepa, 2003)
Dead Men Don't Make Shadows (Demofilo Fidani, 1970)
Death Laid an Egg (Giulio Questi, 1968)
Demons 2 (Lamberto Bava, 1986)
Drive (Nicholas Winding Refn, 2011)
Eden Lake (James Watkins, 2008)
Emanuelle in Bangkok (Joe D'Amato, 1976)
Emergency Squad (Stelvio Massi, 1974)
Fiend Without a Face (Arthur Crabtree, 1959)
Final Executioner (Romolo Guerrieri, 1984)
Find a Place to Die (Giuliano Carnemeo, 1968)
The Forgotten Pistolero (Ferdiando Baldi, 1969)
Frankenstein General Hospital (Deborah Romare, 1988)
Fudoh: The New Generation (Takashi Miike, 1996)
The Great Silence (Sergio Corbucci, 1968)
Guns & Guts (Rene Cardona Jr, 1974)
The Hangover (Todd Phillips, 2009)
The Hangover Part 2 (Todd Phillips, 2011)
Hemoglobin (Peter Svatek, 1997)
Holocaust 2000 aka: Rain of Fire (Alberto De Martino, 1977)
Horrible Bosses (Seth Gordon, 2011)
Hotel Transylvania (Genndy Tartakovsky, 2012)
Invaders from Mars (William Cameron Menzies, 1953)
Killer Klowns from Outer Space (Stephen Chiodo, 1988)
Killers Moon (Alan Birkenshaw, 1978)
King Frat (Ken Wiederhorn, 1979)
The Last Man on Earth (Sydney Salkow, 1964)
Malabimba: The Malicious Whore (Andrea Bianchi, 1979)
Manhunt (Fabrizio De Angelis, 1984)
A Minute to Pray, A Second to Die (Franco Giraldi, 1968)
Night of the Demons (Kevin Tenney, 1988)
A Nightmare on Elm Street (Wes Craven, 1984)
The Omega Man (Boris Segal, 1971)
One Damned Day at Dawn...Django Meets Sartana (Demofilo Fidani, 1970)
The Perfume of the Lady in Black (Francesco Barilli, 1974)
Plan 9 From Outer Space (Ed Wood Jr, 1959)
Primal Rage (Primal Rage, Vittorio Rambaldi, 1988)
Puma Man (Alberto De Martino, 1980)
Rawhead Rex (George Pavlou, 1986)
Red to Kill (Hin Sing Tang, 1994)
Robocop (Paul Verhoeven, 1987)
Robocop 2 (Irvin Kershner, 1990)
Robocop 3 (Fred Dekker, 1993)
Sahara Cross (Tonino Valerri, 1978)
Salt in the Wound (Tonino Ricci, 1969)
Schoolgirls in Chains (Don Jones, 1973)
Silent Night, Bloody Night (Theodore Gershuny, 1972)
Sinbad of the Seven Seas (Enzo G Castellari & Luigi Cozzi, 1989)
Sleepaway Camp (Robert Hiltzik, 1983)
Summertime Killer (Antonio Isassi Isamendi, 1972)
Super (James Gunn, 2010)
Super Snooper aka: Super Fuzz (Sergio Corbucci, 1980)
Supersonic Man (Juan Piquer Simon, 1980)
Take a Hard Ride (Antonio Margheriti, 1975)
A Town Called Hell aka: A Town Called Bastard (Robert Parrish, 1971)
The Trip (Roger Corman, 1967)
Tucker and Dale vs Evil (Eli Craig, 2010)
The Unholy Four (Enzo Barboni, 1970)
Valerie and Her Week of Wonders (Jaromil Jires, 1970)
A Woman Called Abe Sada (Noboru Tanaka, 1975)
Young, Violent, Dangerous (Romolo Guerierri, 1976)

[Nordicdusk]

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[keirarts]

Ghost stories for christmas.

Whistle and i'll come to you (1968) Michael Hordern's muttering self satisfied narcasisstic academic combined with the strange documentary opening, stark black and white photography and unnerving sound design make this a surreal and excellent must see adaptation of m.r. james ghost story, turned here into a critique of the intellectual snobbery that the author was most likely guilty of himself and in turn a critique of james as well as an adaptation of his work. Worth owning the set just for this.

Whistle and i'll come to you (2010) John hurt takes the central role as the academic, here not as twitchy or as self satisfied with his own intellect, instead the plot is changed significantly to explain the nature of the ghostly goings on. Not as good as the origional but still worth watching.

The stalls of barchester (1971) A tale of ambition and supernatural retribution, this makes the wise desicion to leave a lot to the imagination, a supurbly creepy tale with great use of location.

A warning to the curious (1972) A tale of grave robbery and once again supernatural retribution, a character messes with things he shouldent and get his comeuppance, as with all the tales a great use of location, and while it gets critisisms for its depiction of the 'ghost' it still worked for me.

Lost hearts (1973) A creepy fella adopts children for sinister purposes, except he dosent count on their vengeful spirits. Very creepy ghost kids and once again great use of location.

Treasure of abbot thomas (1974) A supernatural treasure hunt with a deadly twist. The ghost here is a little unsatisfying given the build up, but its still a great watch.

The ash tree (1975) A haunting from the past, this time from a witch with a grudge against an ancestor. Weakest of the lot for me but still worth a watch.

The signalman. (1976) Dickens instead of james and one of the best adaptations in the whole box. Denholm Elliot gives an amazing performance and somehow they found the perfect location for the story. A treat from beginning to end.

Stigma (1977) An old standing stone is moved unleashing age-old terror from britains dark pre-christian past. Its all a bit vague in the end and feels more like someone trying to copy m.r. james style but its decent nontheless, and very grim and bleak.

The ice house (1978) The oddest film in the box, like Stigma its set in the 'modern day' this time at a creepy spa resort run by very creepy siblings. Staff start dissapearing, theres strange flowers growing on the ice house and the brother and sister have VERY strange speech patterns! (possibly poor acting rather than intentional) Interesting but not sure what its all about!

A view from a hill (2005) Back to james, here we have another high minded acedemic and skeptic brought low by the supernatural, here when he comes to asses artifacts at a country estate. Great ghost story well executed and actually manages to retain some of the old films style and atmosphere.

Number 13 (2006) another good one, this time about a haunted hotel where the room 13 dosent exist... or does it! Like view from the hill it seems to be made by fans of the origional ghost stories and is well worth watching. (thought the end reveal was very creepy)

A ghost story at christmas. (bonus) 3 tales told by christopher lee recreating the setting they would have origionally been told in by james himself. Literally 3 episodes of lee in a chair speaking but still incredibly watchable and desrving of a place in the set!


Overall a great collection, i'll probably dust this off every xmas!

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Overall a great collection, i'll probably dust this off every xmas!

A brilliant set indeed!

[monkeyscreams]

I watched Edward Scissorhands with my two daughters (10 and 12 yrs) this evening. They were glued to the screen, and so was I. Great film, I think they'll enjoy Frankenstein (1931) also.

[Nordicdusk]

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[JoshuaKaitlyn]

Mutiny on the Buses (1972) More adventures from Stan and Jack the London bus drivers. This time the pair try to help Stan's brother in law learn to drive a bus in order to earn more money for his family so Stan can save more money to fulfill his plans to marry his girlfriend and set up home with her. More of the usual non pc humour, but still fun!

[SShaw]

Tonights film (excluding the last 15 or minutes or so of Love Actually) was Jack Reacher which turned out to be an enjoyable diversion from the festive feasting. I haven't read any of Lee Child's novels so can't comment on how accurate a recreation of the source material it is, but Cruise did o.k. Based on this I will look out for the sequels when (and if) they appear.

May try to see Argo on Monday if its still showing.