What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[SShaw]

Finished the trilogy with Back to the Future Part 3 (UK Blu) this evening and then followed it up with The Thompsons (German Blu) which is growing on me. It is much better than The Hamiltons.

[Frankenhooker]

Originally Posted by Rik

Mother of Tears-Dario Argento's conclusion to the Three Mothers trilogy. This time round, the plot revolves around art student Sarah(played by Dario's daughter Asia) who has to stop the rather lovely looking Mother of Tears from causing Rome to go to Hell! That's pretty much it as far as plot goes.
What can I say, I liked it surprisingly considering the bad rep it's had for the last 5 years, particularly on here. Yeah, it's not Argento's best film, but it's certainly a masterpiece compared to The Card Player! My only real issue was some of the FX were awful and cheap looking, especially the scenes featuring the ghostly Daria Nicolodi, which were seriously bad. Oh, and Sarah's ability to make herself invisible had me chuckling too. It does have some nice gory set pieces and a couple of instances that made me jump(a rarity these days) and I know I'll definitely watch it again.

I really like the film. It has a monkey, the spice-girls in witch form, Asia making herself invisible and an absolutely ludicrous ending. Pretty decent way to spend 90 minutes in my opinion.

It isn't up there with Dario's best films, but it's never boring and it has some great gore. Meh, I quite like it. Much better than Giallo.

[J Harker]

I watched Poltergeist for the first time. Cracking film, don't know how I've never got around to watching this before.

[JoshuaKaitlyn]

The Sand Pebbles (1966)
An historical drama set in 1929 on board the USS San Pablo, a gunship patrolling China’s Yangtze River. The movie tells the story of Jake Holman, a machinist’s mate who is transferred to the gunboat and finds himself at odds with how things are run by the ship’s Captain. The rise of the Chinese nationalists soon begins to threaten the foreign powers in the country and the ship’s captain sets out rescue the local American missionaries.
The Sand Pebbles was a film that director Robert Wise had wanted to make for years, but there was a reluctance to finance it. Once it was financed location scouting began, first along the Sacramento River in California. But Wise decided that only the Far East would do. Whilst pre-production work was begun it was realised that it would be up to a year before shooting began so Wise agreed to direct another movie in the meantime. The Sound of Music!
The Sand Pebbles was filmed both in Taiwan and in Hong Kong and seemed to be fraught with problems. Shooting was scheduled to take nine weeks instead it took seven months. A camera boat capsized ruining equipment. Crew morale was low, and due to unpaid taxes the Chinese government effectively held several members of the crew hostage, including Steve McQueen, and add to that McQueen had an abscessed molar that required him to take an extended period of rest.
Nominated for eight Academy awards including best picture and best actor, (McQueen’s only ever nomination), it failed to win any losing out to ‘A Man for all Seasons’ and Paul Scofield.
At nearly three hours it was nice to have an intermission in the middle!

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

I adore this film - it's possible my favourite Naschy too.

I thought the meandering added to its (strange) charm, although each to their own etc. I am probably in the minority for liking this one, though!

I really like Blue eyes, but in fairness i've found mysel becoming a bit of a naschy afficiando in recent years.

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by SharonLynette

Finally watched Tim Burton's Dark Shadows (2012) and I actually thought he'd done a pretty decent job and I havenn't really been a Burton fan since Sleepy Hollow although I rather liked Sweeney Todd.

Depp is a bit of a poor Barnabas Collins. Check out the original duet of TV movies which are far better.

I didn't mind Dark Shadows, but it felt a bit too comedic and as if no-one involved in the production fully understood what they were making. I much prefer the originals.

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by J Harker

I watched John Wayne's The Searchers the other day. Thought it was meant to be considered a classic among classics. Dull meandering tedious pointless drivel. Give me Rio Bravo anyday.

I've only ever seen one John Wayne film all the way through and it bored me, so I've not bothered with any others. Are there any good ones?

Best old western I've seen recently was The Ox-Bow Incident. Absolutely brilliant.

[nekromantik]

Watched Looper last night.
Was very average! Good concept but I thought it could have been pulled off better.
It was a bit too long and dragged on for a while.

[Jinx_Barkman]

I just got back from a late screening of Django Unchained so I'm still absorbing it but I felt like it was a good outing for Tarantino and company. Christoph Waltz was fantastic, as usual, but surprising for me was the turn of Leonardo DiCaprio. I have never been a tremendous admirer of his but he is quickly becoming a wonderful thespian. All of Tarantino's nods are there including the name of a saloon. So, I'm still thinking about it but for now I'll say it was an above average affair, not great but satisfying. Where was The Hammer's cameo though? I feel like this film owes much more to those Blaxploitation westerns that he starred in than any Django film.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Jinx_Barkman

I just got back from a late screening of Django Unchained so I'm still absorbing it but I felt like it was a good outing for Tarantino and company. Christoph Waltz was fantastic, as usual, but surprising for me was the turn of Leonardo DiCaprio. I have never been a tremendous admirer of his but he is quickly becoming a wonderful thespian. All of Tarantino's nods are there including the name of a saloon. So, I'm still thinking about it but for now I'll say it was an above average affair, not great but satisfying. Where was The Hammer's cameo though? I feel like this film owes much more to those Blaxploitation westerns that he starred in than any Django film.

I think Dicaprio has always been a good actor (see gilbert grape) but his pretty boy looks and his turn in the criminally overrated Titanic (beginning of the end for my respect for james cameron) and Baz luhrmans Romeo and juliette got him marked out by the press as a teen idol. I'm glad to see though, that he's been doing as much as possible, like collaborating with Scorsese, christopher nolan and tarantino to shed that image and regain the cred he's owed. Like brad pitt and wierdly Justin timberlake (in alpha dog and social network) he's making decent inroads to getting respect for his talent.