What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bleakshaun

Just finished Starship Troopers.
although it does slightly take ideas from Full Metal Jacket - however even at that it doesn't truly hinder the film as a whole.
8/10

It's no different to Heinlein's novel from the late 50's. I'm presuming you haven't read it or you'd never have mentioned Full Metal Jacket.

Heinlein was on the ball. The novel is an allegory for America at the time especially what seemed to be an outbreak of juvenile delinquency.

It's a classic read and i thoroughly recommend it.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by bleakshaun

Just finished Starship Troopers.
The film is set in a time with a militaristic authoritarian rule who go to war against the alien species the arachnids. the film focuses on Rico, Carmen and Dizz who all sign up to join the federation to gain access to citizenship and are taken to the front lines.
This movie is great, my parents rented this when i was a kid so me and my brother had some stupid sci fi flick to watch. not knowing that this is a rather gory movie, that has hints of satire a lot like Robocop only less subtle about it. the cast is great, the soundtrack is great (hell didn't even realise Fade Into You is playing in the background when Rico and Sander fight). The cgi effects and use of miniatures is great, the gore is also great. although it does slightly take ideas from Full Metal Jacket - however even at that it doesn't truly hinder the film as a whole.
8/10

The novel by Robert Heinlen is basically a kids book ...aliens bad...humans good etc...so the Dutch one twisted this into a rather black hearted satire on militarism imho.



Silent Night, Bloody Night (1973, Theodore Gershunzy)

Continuing the grand tradition of Unhinged, Don't Look In The Basement and Mary, Mary
of unsettling family disputes in Rural Merica, this super wee film not only has the exploitation Garbo Mary Woronov but the Pope himself Ondine, along with some smashing kills and a great hissing villain. Highly recommended. My Elstree Hill dvd was possibly one of the worst prints I own, up there with The Wailing and Gangsters Law

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

The novel by Robert Heinlen is basically a kids book ...aliens bad...humans good etc...so the Dutch one twisted this into a rather black hearted satire on militarism imho.

But the book is also very militaristic.

As for humans good, aliens bad? Well yes kind of. I mean the bugs are hardly Vulcans are they. 'Live long and prosper before we tear off your head'.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

But the book is also very militaristic.

As for humans good, aliens bad? Well yes kind of. I mean the bugs are hardly Vulcans are they. 'Live long and prosper before we tear off your head'.

It's been years, but I do remember the striking difference in style between it and Stranger In A Strange Land for example. I have read a lot of sci fi ...
It's a great film.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

It's been years, but I do remember the striking difference in style between it and Stranger In A Strange Land for example. I have read a lot of sci fi ...
It's a great film.

I think it was Moorcock who said Starship Troopers was Heinlein's last proper sci-fi novel and then he became serious with Stranger in a Strange Land.

[Make Them Die Slowly]

GLOW: GLAMOUROUS LADIES OF WRESTLING

Pretty good documentary on the first American all women's wrestling tv show. Highlights included the extended song, dance and rap numbers and anything goes Gestapo matches with Nazi flags and uniforms!

The doc follows the show from its begins to cancellation and ends with a reunion of its stars. There are some great interviews with the women who are very down to earth and far removed from the present Divas of WWE.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I think it was Moorcock who said Starship Troopers was Heinlein's last proper sci-fi novel and then he became serious with Stranger in a Strange Land.

Yes, yes, I have 8 of his as well He would say that
Some of them would have made rather loony films.

But my favourite would have to be his "novelisation" of The Great Rock N Roll Swindle.
Basically a dystopian phantasmagoria with bits of the Pistols story chucked in at random. A scream.

[SymbioticFunction]

Zombi (Dawn of the Dead - Argento cut) (1978)

Hadn't seen this version for several years - since I sold off my American Anchor Bay 3 film dvd boxset when I started to upgrade to a blu-ray collection. It's just as bonkers as I can recall it. It's obviously still the same film as the two Romero versions, but with somewhere around 25 mins of changes when compared to the Romero theatrical cut.

Some scenes have new or additional dialogue, and surplus action-orientated shots (eg, the bikers at the mall) whilst many others are heavily truncated so that the movie tends to zip along at a much quicker pace. This version of the film famously removes the zombie being killed by helicopter blades scene. It would probably be a very interesting film to study, if you were being schooled in editing.

The soundtrack on the Argento version is 100% full Goblin, no library tracks here (I think Romero only used 3 Goblin compositions). And the music is played much more often - perhaps that's not surprising considering how much, Argento was fond of music. The different soundtrack also makes this version of Dawn, fascinating to experience.

The editing on the Argento version seems a bit clumsy when compared to the work of George Romero. On the end credits (of my blu-ray), it states that Romero edited this version of the film. But I'm sure that's not the case. My understanding is that Zombi was edited in Italy under the supervision of Dario Argento.

Argento had the power to oversee European versions of the film as he had submitted $250,000 to the film budget and been heavily involved in it's production from a very early stage (apparently Romero wrote the screenplay in Italy as a special guest of Dario). Which led to this oddity of an alternate version of a famous horror film.

It's interesting to read that the Argento cut was first submitted to UK censors and they had major issues with it. So the Romero theatrical cut was submitted instead, and actually passed with fairly minor censorship. I guess that is because the Argento cut tends to remove most of the satire or anti-consumerism film messages, which obviously elevated Dawn in the BBFC's eyes.

This was viewed on a Spanish Blu-ray - good news, it is a pressed disc, bad news, it has audio problems. First watched it with the lossless English 5.1 sound option and the amount of echo and reverberation on foley effects (such as footsteps) is actually pretty damn shocking. It also went a bit out of sync for a couple of minutes. It was not good.

Then I re-watched the blu-ray with the original lossless English mono track to see how that fared. It goes quite badly out of sync for around 25 mins of the 2 hr running time. Therefore due to the audio problems with the two English tracks, I have decided that I would find it difficult to recommend this Spanish blu-ray release.

Film scores:

Dawn of the Dead - theatrical cut - 5/5
Dawn of the Dead - Cannes festival cut - 4.5/5
Zombi - Argento cut - 3.75/5 (much as I love hearing the full Goblin s'track)

[bleakshaun]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

It's no different to Heinlein's novel from the late 50's. I'm presuming you haven't read it or you'd never have mentioned Full Metal Jacket.

Heinlein was on the ball. The novel is an allegory for America at the time especially what seemed to be an outbreak of juvenile delinquency.

It's a classic read and i thoroughly recommend it.

i'll give it a try (after all the other crap i have to read).

[keirarts]

Multiple maniacs.

One of John Waters earlier pre-pink flamingos films. Shot in black & white on the mean streets of Baltimore, Waters early muse Divine plays the head of a travelling freak show/performance art troupe that is a front for various homicidal maniacs & kidnappers. Unsuspecting 'straights' are lured in on the promise of various shows including "two queers kissing" and a porn star having her privates photographed by her agent. Once lured in the multiple maniacs descend upon the hapless customers for murder and other fun. I cracked up when Divine shoots a woman up with Acid and advises her not to worry as she'll be 'her guide'. After this we see the day to day life of the various maniacs and various scenes of outrage including lesbian sex in a church, street rape and lobster abuse.
Multiple maniacs pretty much sets the tone for Waters future films with its use of outrage as a source of humor. Waters himself notes in the commentary that its not something that works these days as TV and films seem to be less inhibited than they were at the time this film was made. Its a film where the director is still learning his craft but the raw, stark black and white photography, choppy editing and at times beaten up appearance add to the films charms. The criterion release is highly reccomended.