What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[J Harker]

Curious. What happens if we discuss films on the tipple thread?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Curious. What happens if we discuss films on the tipple thread?

That would be a whole Withnail and I situation!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

'Whiskey' is actually the Irish spelling (perhaps also why it's translated over to the states) and 'whisky' is the Scottish.

My source. Or should i say sauce.

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whisky-or-whiskey/

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

My source. Or should i say sauce.

https://www.masterofmalt.com/whisky-or-whiskey/

Thread derail alert!!!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Scar (2007)

My first revisit to this film since it first hit dvd 9 years ago. Back then i watched the 3d version of the film also included on the disc. You can probably tell by the length of time between viewings what i initially thought of it, so did the film improve on second watch all these years later?

Sadly no. Scar, especially when the 3d gimmick is removed, is generic torture porn and despite the welcome presence of Angela Bettis Scar hasn't many redeeming features.

Riding in on the coat tails of Hostel, Scar is one of those horror films that makes you think you've seen more gore than you actually have. Truth be told there's very little onscreen gore but the films buckets full of chocolate sauce masquerading as blood and strange sepia tint throughout con you into thinking what you are seeing is genuinely shocking when in reality there's a lot of talk and screaming but barely any blood letting.

Unlike my previously reviewed The Lazarus Experiment, the script never manages to make you care or feel for any of the characters. Even Bettis has nothing to work with other than looking like she's about to cry constantly meaning i really didn't give a shit as to any of their fates.

Oddly none of the stills on Google have that strange sepia tint to them. Wonder if they authored the dvd incorrectly?

Scar is, in the cold light of day, a bit rubbish.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

Thread derail alert!!!

I actually post the odd review in and around discussing whisky though.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Scar (2007)

I thought pretty much the same as you when I first saw it all those years ago (with the 3D gimmick). I off-loaded my DVD soon afterwards and won't be attempting a re-watch.

[Demoncrat]

Watched Spies Like Us (1985, John Landis)
For the first time. A very strained "comedy" centred around two hapless idiots thrust into the world of espionage. Some laughs in the first half (the operation scene etc) drying up towards a incredibly lazy and perfunctory ending. Some of these 80s films are dire.

American Ultra (2015, Nima Nourizadeh)
Another take on spooks is this rather cheeky wee tale. Still the best thing I've seen Stewart in (though that wouldn't be hard haha).

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

The War Game (1965)

Peter Watkins' 1965 documentary about the effects of a nuclear attack on Britain. Specifically a Kent town some forty miles from any bomb detonation.

Scarily intense and extremely hard hitting i can understand why the government banned this film throughout the 60's, 70's and 80's - decades when the threat of nuclear war was something we constantly lived with. The reason it was banned was the realism of it all. I found the sheer power of it genuinely frightening some 50 years later. Some of the scenes are still disturbing such as children burning, looters being shot whilst desperately looking for food as well as graphic talking head accounts of events.

As with Culloden, Watkins other film on the BFI disc, The War Game is made using interviews done throughout the event of a nuclear strike, before, during and the aftermath of the fallout. The stark black and white photography and commentary of events from Michael Aspel and Dick Graham really force home the sheer terror and panic that must have ensued should such an event occur. The fact of the film were taken from historical documents from Hiroshima, Nagasaki, and the flattening of Berlin and Dresden during WW2. It's not just the dropping of the bombs but also the country's lack of any preparation in how to deal with such an event that is just as unnerving. One man thinks ten sandbags up against his front door will save him or a hole in the ground with a corrugated sheet over it would keep another family safe.

However the real skill of Watkins film is that whilst watching it you can't help think it actually happened rather than a fictional account. Anti nuclear propaganda it may well be, it's still the best horror film i've seen in years.

Highly recommended. Culloden / The War Game is the disc of the year so far.

It's on the list. TWG is indeed truly terrifying.

[trebor8273]

Enjoyable B grade slasher with likeable characters and some decent kills for its time. Moral of the story here is don't shoot your mother with a shotgun, but if you happen to make sure to kill your father as well. 6.8/10

Next up tonight

First episode of this





First viewing



And will end the night with this