What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Deadite

I don't.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Cross-Roads (1955)

A supernatural short from director John Fitchen, one of only two screen credits which is a shame as this shows some potential. The 20 minute story tells the tale of a man who comes back from the grave via a crossroads to avenge the death of his sister.

Starring Christopher Lee as the ghost and Ferdy Mayne as the lothario who comes to a sticky end. As it is only the same length as an Amicus anthology section it fairly whips along and is nicely entertaining with a vibe similar to Tourneur's Night of the Demon (1957) and especially notable as i think it's Christopher Lee's first foray into horror territory. It's also worth looking out for Fitchen's zoom shots of Lee's eyes as it's a technique Hammer would use for years to come in Lee's Dracula films.

Found only on the BFI blu/dvd combo set of Beat Girl, which i haven't watched yet, but this was the main reason for me purchasing it anyway.

[Demoncrat]

Watched The Wraith (1986, Mike Marvin)
Woooh mama, they sure don't make 'em like this any more. Ostensibly High Plains Drifter crossed with Tuff Turf, this sees old tiger blood and Audrey horn. Damn i've run out of....

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

The Accountant (2016)

This is told with a series of flashbacks in which the main character, played by Ben Affleck, is shown as an autistic maths savant, who uses his skills to do the books of criminal cartels around the world, from the New York mob to Juarez drug gangs. An analyst with a past she thought was sealed is basically coerced into finding out who he is by her boss, the head of the Treasury Department (JK Simmons) who is approaching retirement and wants the case closed before he passes the torch onto his replacement, whoever that may be.

The titular numbers man, who goes by a variety of aliases and stays out of sight by running ZZZ Accounting in Illinois, a firm which will be that the very back of the business directory, and helps people out by instructing them on loopholes which will allow them to keep as much of their money as possible, is asked to come into a privately run robotics firm and identify a discrepancy in their accounts.

The film feels very much like 2014's The Equalizer, only with the main character given slightly more of a back story, as he finds himself protecting a woman at risk and isn't everything he appears to be to those who see him every day. I won't say much more, because to do so would would be to spoil the interest which comes with each revelation. I haven't read any reviews, and don't know if I want to, but, like the Antoine Fuqua/Denzel Washington movie, this is also stylishly directed with some brilliant action sequences and a solid performance by a stoic leading man and has the potential to become a franchise.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

The Accountant (2016)

This is told with a series of flashbacks in which the main character, played by Ben Affleck, is shown as an autistic maths savant, who uses his skills to do the books of criminal cartels around the world, from the New York mob to Juarez drug gangs. An analyst with a past she thought was sealed is basically coerced into finding out who he is by her boss, the head of the Treasury Department (JK Simmons) who is approaching retirement and wants the case closed before he passes the torch onto his replacement, whoever that may be.

The titular numbers man, who goes by a variety of aliases and stays out of sight by running ZZZ Accounting in Illinois, a firm which will be that the very back of the business directory, and helps people out by instructing them on loopholes which will allow them to keep as much of their money as possible, is asked to come into a privately run robotics firm and identify a discrepancy in their accounts.

The film feels very much like 2014's The Equalizer, only with the main character given slightly more of a back story, as he finds himself protecting a woman at risk and isn't everything he appears to be to those who see him every day. I won't say much more, because to do so would would be to spoil the interest which comes with each revelation. I haven't read any reviews, and don't know if I want to, but, like the Antoine Fuqua/Denzel Washington movie, this is also stylishly directed with some brilliant action sequences and a solid performance by a stoic leading man and has the potential to become a franchise.

Nice review, Nos.

Shame you likened it to The Equalizer, a film i thought very average. I don't even own it now.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Nice review, Nos.

Shame you likened it to The Equalizer, a film i thought very average. I don't even own it now.

I don't own The Equalizer either, but it was something I felt was a good reference point because of the general set up: everyman by day, action vigilante by night on a mission with a 'damsel in distress'. Both films have their pluses and minuses, and arguably more of the former than the latter in both cases. Similarly, they also both have strong cases for a sequel and, if there was a second Equalizer film with the same director and lead actor, I would do my best to watch it at the cinema – the same applies to The Accountant.

[Deadite]

Lucy. A bit more cerebral than i thought it was going to be. Not to say that it doesn't have lots of action, but the impression i got from the case was of a balls-out kind of actioner. Instead we get a strange concoction of actioner and national geographic documentary. Don't care, Scarlett Johanson could be playing Stan Laurel in the remake of Blockheads and i'd like it.

Also revisited The Changeling for the first time in a few years. Pants-wettingly scary for the first hour or so, but i've always felt the ending drops the ball a bit (see what i did there?). Great haunted house movie that always sends a chill down my spine, even if it lets up a tad in the last thirty minutes. If you haven't ever seen it, why not?

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Deadite

Lucy. A bit more cerebral than i thought it was going to be. Not to say that it doesn't have lots of action, but the impression i got from the case was of a balls-out kind of actioner. Instead we get a strange concoction of actioner and national geographic documentary. Don't care, Scarlett Johanson could be playing Stan Laurel in the remake of Blockheads and i'd like it.

Also revisited The Changeling for the first time in a few years. Pants-wettingly scary for the first hour or so, but i've always felt the ending drops the ball a bit (see what i did there?). Great haunted house movie that always sends a chill down my spine, even if it lets up a tad in the last thirty minutes. If you haven't ever seen it, why not?

Lucy is just bizarre, but yes Scarlett can do no wrong.
The Changeling is absolutely brilliant and desperately deserves a bells and whistles blu.

[J Harker]

The Shout. 1978. Jerzy Skolimowski

What the feck on a Friday was this madness. Close as I can tell this film is basically the sheer ravings of an insane man played brilliantly by Alan Bates. Graves (Tim Curry) arrives at a funny farm in the country to score a cricket match being held between the villagers and the patients (yes that alone seems a bit nuts I thought but hey ho). He's partnered up with a patient named Crossley (Bates) a highly intelligent, well travelled man who proceeds to tell Graves a story about his travels in the Australian outback and how he came to acquire the power of an Aboriginal terror shout that can instantly kill any living thing in the immediate vicinity. He goes on to tell a skeptical Graves how he came to assimilate himself into the lives of local couple Anthony and Rachel (John Hurt and Susannah York respectively). As mentioned Alan Bates plays Crossley brilliantly well, simultaneously unpleasant and highly charismatic, soaked in testosterone but clearly not the most stable of fellows but as such he is the films greatest asset. The picturesque Devon settings also lend the film tremendous atmosphere and somehow wide open shots of the coastline and coastal sand dunes manage to seem strangely claustrophobic at times. The film is littered with little nervy touches, things that are both insignificant and yet subtly unnerving at the same time. Hurt turning on a gas stove then taking what seems to find a match while the constantly menacing Bates just watches. Repeated shots of a jagged bone for no real reason. I'll definitely need at least another rewatch to take more in but this film is brilliant even if it is rather barmy in its structure and vague in narrative. One reviewer on Amazon suggests that it is ridiculously dated and the events taking place are just too hard to swallow but to be honest I think it adds to the quirky dreamlike narrative and is largely what makes me think that Crossley is just a madman rambling nonsense, but that might just be my interpretation and the film warrants deeper investigation than that. Highly recommended and another fabulous bluray from Network.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by J Harker

The Shout. 1978. Jerzy Skolimowski

What the feck on a Friday was this madness. Close as I can tell this film is basically the sheer ravings of an insane man played brilliantly by Alan Bates. Graves (Tim Curry) arrives at a funny farm in the country to score a cricket match being held between the villagers and the patients (yes that alone seems a bit nuts I thought but hey ho). He's partnered up with a patient named Crossley (Bates) a highly intelligent, well travelled man who proceeds to tell Graves a story about his travels in the Australian outback and how he came to acquire the power of an Aboriginal terror shout that can instantly kill any living thing in the immediate vicinity. He goes on to tell a skeptical Graves how he came to assimilate himself into the lives of local couple Anthony and Rachel (John Hurt and Susannah York respectively). As mentioned Alan Bates plays Crossley brilliantly well, simultaneously unpleasant and highly charismatic, soaked in testosterone but clearly not the most stable of fellows but as such he is the films greatest asset. The picturesque Devon settings also lend the film tremendous atmosphere and somehow wide open shots of the coastline and coastal sand dunes manage to seem strangely claustrophobic at times. The film is littered with little nervy touches, things that are both insignificant and yet subtly unnerving at the same time. Hurt turning on a gas stove then taking what seems to find a match while the constantly menacing Bates just watches. Repeated shots of a jagged bone for no real reason. I'll definitely need at least another rewatch to take more in but this film is brilliant even if it is rather barmy in its structure and vague in narrative. One reviewer on Amazon suggests that it is ridiculously dated and the events taking place are just too hard to swallow but to be honest I think it adds to the quirky dreamlike narrative and is largely what makes me think that Crossley is just a madman rambling nonsense, but that might just be my interpretation and the film warrants deeper investigation than that. Highly recommended and another fabulous bluray from Network.

He's not the only one.
No, just kidding.

I enjoyed that review, J. It's nice to see a film that i highly rate getting appreciation from elsewhere.

Have you got the Network release? I keep meaning to watch it with the commentary to hear what Kim Newman makes of it all.