What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Mojo]

BLACK MAGIC
A strange magician's black magic spells and potions given to various couples cause mayhem, in this hugely entertaining Asian horror. I enjoyed HEX, but this was even better. Here's hoping 88 Films can get their hands on more of the same. Any chance of BLACK MAGIC II ?

WHAT HAVE THEY DONE TO YOUR DAUGHTERS?
A teenage prostitution racket is uncovered in this excellent slice of 70s Italian thriller. I love Massimo Dallamano as a director - whether it be the incredible car / motorbike chase, or trying to avoid the meat cleaver weilding killer in a car park, he always films it with such style. The murders, though relatively few, are graphic and shocking. A classic Giallo, given a first class blu ray release from the ever excellent folks at Camera Obscura.

[trebor8273]

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.



has not aged that well( its was released 15 years ago this month) from a effects perspective and the acting of the young cast especially Radcliffe is on the whole pretty poor but this is more than made up from the mainly UK cast playing the adults. An enjoyable and fun film. 7/10

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone.

has not aged that well( its was released 15 years ago this month) from a effects perspective and the acting of the young cast especially Radcliffe is on the whole pretty poor but this is more than made up from the mainly UK cast playing the adults. An enjoyable and fun film. 7/10

I watched the first 5 films earlier on in the year and agree with you that they haven't aged well, especially the first film.

Also the plots tend to get a bit lost as well, seeing as each film lasts well over two hours.

[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I watched the first 5 films earlier on in the year and agree with you that they haven't aged well, especially the first film.

Also the plots tend to get a bit lost as well, seeing as each film lasts well over two hours.

Never seen the last three films so it will be my first viewings of them.

The films have a certain charm and I would hate to see how they would of turned out if Rowling had not stood her ground and executives had got there wish and had a american cast and set in america

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Never seen the last three films so it will be my first viewings of them.

The films have a certain charm and I would hate to see how they would of turned out if Rowling had not stood her ground and executives had got there wish and had a american cast and set in america

Didn't know that. Probably turned out like Twilight...not that i know what they are actually like.

[keirarts]

The arrival

With Prisoners & Sicario, one of my favorite films of last year, I had high hopes for Arrival. I'm glad to say it's another solid film from him with great visuals, interesting characters and a moody score that builds an underlying sense of tension and unease. The real star of the film, beyond the beautiful moody visuals , is the script which harks back to classic 60's & 70's era sci-fi where exploring ideas was more important and possible than simply throwing grandstanding visuals at the audience. The films explores ideas of communication and its importance to human perception and behavior. From the difficulties in establishing communication with an intelligence very much difference to our own, the possibility for it to either unite or destroy our society and the differences in modes of communication that seek to establish connections between people and the toxic one way communication of platforms like youtube that exist to drive wedges between people through fear. Well worth a watch.

[keirarts]

Battle of the damned

For a quid in poundland, the prospect of a film where Dolph Lundgren must enter a zombie infested city to rescue a young woman and then team up with a group of robots in order to escape, was too good to pass up. Ultimately the film is totally daft, but for a quid its fun enough to warrant 90 minutes of your time.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE TERROR WITHIN – Weird that people were still ripping off 'Alien' even after 'Aliens' had been out for, like, years. I guess it makes sense economically – it's easier to spend your five dollar fx budget on one freak in a rubber costume than loads of them. Otherwise, you really are going to be making your sets out of egg cartons – wait on, didn't someone do that once? This is a Roger Corman flick after all. 'The Terror Within' has some kinship with those older Corman 'homages', 'Galaxy of Terror' and 'Forbidden World', all of them being 'Alien' rips produced by the same guy. But those earlier movies were quite demented and even a bit psychedelic, whereas 'The Terror Within' is a far more basic proposition. The score is, the Earth's population has been nearly wiped out by “something that happened in a lab, and I bet it was one of THEIR labs,” according to one patriotic survivor who looks like a shit action hero – because that's basically what he is. Good job he's in a shit movie, then. Anyway, there's the inevitable government bunker full of scientists and angry military types who flap about and do a lot of talking when a pregnant woman is found up there on the surface, then do a bit of dying after she gives birth messily to an alien – who saw that coming? From then on there's some running about, shouting and gore (in order of magnitude) before they finally get rid of the alien guy. Or do they? Can't remember. 'The Terror Within' is pretty much as meat and potatoes as it gets, and, yes, I'm being flippant in calling it a shit movie (or, more accurately, a mediocre one), but it is satisfying and entertaining once it manages to get through its leisurely set-up. There's the odd eerie scene, the aforementioned smattering of graphic horror, an OK looking creature and that seeming R Corman staple, implied rape by space beast. It slots comfortably into that niche of late eighties / early nineties monster movies such as 'Syngenor' and 'Metamorphosis: The Alien Factor', films which didn't really push any boundaries but were slimy enough where it counted.

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by keirarts

The arrival

With Prisoners & Sicario, one of my favorite films of last year, I had high hopes for Arrival. I'm glad to say it's another solid film from him with great visuals, interesting characters and a moody score that builds an underlying sense of tension and unease. The real star of the film, beyond the beautiful moody visuals , is the script which harks back to classic 60's & 70's era sci-fi where exploring ideas was more important and possible than simply throwing grandstanding visuals at the audience. The films explores ideas of communication and its importance to human perception and behavior. From the difficulties in establishing communication with an intelligence very much difference to our own, the possibility for it to either unite or destroy our society and the differences in modes of communication that seek to establish connections between people and the toxic one way communication of platforms like youtube that exist to drive wedges between people through fear. Well worth a watch.

I'm hoping to go and watch this tonight after work, wanted to all week but a combination of an annoyingly vocal cold and a deadline for 2 pieces of Uni work, I decided against it. I've stopped sneezing non-stop now though and I've handed my work in so... tonight!

I'm booked for Fantastic Beasts tomorrow evening too - can't wait for that one.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE TERROR WITHIN –

So is it The Terror Within 2 tonight, Frankie?

You don't need to review it just cut and paste the last review and add a 2 to the title.

By the way, i can't believe you never mentioned George Kennedy, who really should have known better, in the original review.