Spasmo - strange, dreamlike but oddly compelling giallo. Can't say more than that really. Hard to believe its
made by the same person who directed the incredibly clunky Cannibal Ferox.

YEAR OF THE DRAGON.

Michael Cimino got a lot of stick for heavens gate (not all of it deserved, it may have been massively expensive but it's a damnned fine piece of cinema.) but proves here that he's still a real talent. Shooting from a script co-written with Oliver stone, the films follows Mickey Rourke's vientam vet turned copper assigned to chinatown and decides to go head to head against the triads, his pursuit of up and coming triad leader Joey Thi (John Lone) becomes obsessive to the point it begins destroying the lives of the people around him.

A supurb cop thriller, that also serves to highlight how unfairly the chinese community has been treated in america (probably stones scriptwriting coming to the surface) the films is well acted and supurbly shot making great use of new york as a backdrop for the action.

Best of all the scanbox dvd only cost me 50p from cash generator, so a total bargain all round, was planning to finish up the night with either puppet master 2 and 3 or some hammer on blu-ray but for some reason I find myself in the mood for some malcom x instead... go figure!

Cool Hand Luke (Warners, Blu)... One of the finest studio pictures of the 60's, Paul Newman plays the irrespressible world-shaker Lucas Jackson, sent down for 2 years hard labour at a Southern prison farm... Directed with considerable flair by Stuart Rosenberg, and featuring reams of quotable Southern dialogue, the film is one of the great ensemble dramas - among the mulletheaded cons look out Dennis Hopper, Luke Askew (Easy Rider), Clifton James (Man With the Golden Gun), Anthony Zerbe (Omega Man), Warren Finnerty (The Connection) and Joe Don Baker (Walking Tall), and there's particularly fine work from Strother Martin as the Captain who bags one of the most famous lines in Cinema, an early appearance from Harry Dean Stanton who sings the blues, and career best performances from Paul Newman and George Kennedy who won a well deserved Oscar. Much has been made of the film's religious undertones, but Newman's existentialist hero is closer in spirit to Robert Duvall's THX-1138 and Jack Nicholson's Randle P. McMurphy, another loner rallying against the conformity of a soulless repressive soceity. Essential viewing.

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...uke_Poster.gif

Why not? :lol:

The first time i saw it i don't think i had a clue what was going on.

Haha, I know; it's totally barmy. It starts off in one direction then goes completely in another. There was a point where I nearly gave up and thought I had no idea what was going on but it then made some attempt at exposition and seemed to explain everything, as illogical as it was


Also just watched:

The Killer Must Kill Again - George Hilton hires Bez from the Happy Mondays to kill his wife. Hilarity ensues when two horny teems steal the car with the corpse in the boot! Luigi Cozzi directs this competent and worthy giallo which features a really disturbing sequence intercutting scenes of rape and consensual sex. Although it would have been nice to have focused more on Hilton's character under suspicion for his wife's disappearance it's still a great giallo.

http://c534909.r9.cf2.rackcdn.com/wp...ler-Must-1.jpg

http://m.gmgrd.co.uk/res/739.$plit/C...A58%3A34%3A448

Isn't that Schweik from The Beyond?

Aye, that it is.

He totally looks like Bez though :)

Yeah, he does so now every time I watch The Beyond, I'm gonna have Kinky Afro in my head :lol:

TYRANNOSAUR - Disturbing expose of the bleak side of Leeds (if another side exists, let me know). Peter Mullan and Olivia Colman give acute performances as two lost souls reaching out to one another amidst the wreckage of their lives. The abuse Colman endures at the hands of her husband (played by the brilliant Eddie Marsan) is really upsetting to behold. 'Tyrannosaur' conjures a grey vista of charity shops, dead end pubs, harsh estates and the homes of the dying that is powerful and real, but the pain (past and present) of its central characters is what registers most intensely. When I first saw it, I thought the events of the final reel were a little de trop, but on rewatching Olivia's 'secret' didn't seem too excessive, as dramatic as it is / was. 'Tyrannosaur' is an excellent film. It documents the ravages of cyclical abuse and the agony wrought whilst offering a glimpse of something less easy than redemption. Like a yorkshire Abel Ferrara doing Mike Leigh. Totally recommended.

Very nice review Frankie. I don't fancy it though from your words. It sounds way too gloomy.

Yeah. "Misery porn" is the term that sticks in my mind used to describe that film! Never felt up to checking it out. Same with Nil by Mouth, The War Zone et al . . .

Oh man, it's such a great film though. It's no walk in the park, but it's better than a walk through the Merrion Centre!*

* Leeds' premier grim shopping centre, the accursed blueprint of the English mall.

Is that specialist movie store still open, the one near the Corn Exchange?

Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy

Damn fine filmmaking, and a super slick adaptation to boot, beautifully condensed. I actually found it a much more satisfying experience than the plodding tv series, which sorely missed the design budget afforded here. But what is it with Tomas Alfredson and unconvincing CGI animals?! In Let the Right One In it was the cats, here it's Mark Strong battling a flaming bird! A minor blip in an otherwise perfect film. I have to own that Blu Ray. Many rewatches to come . . . !

Cosmopoilis

A bit of a chore to get through, although I didn't mind Pattinson in the lead role (actually, I think this is the first film I've seen him in). I settled into the stylised rhythm of the character's speech quite easily, but it eventually became all too repetitive and tiresome. It's no Holy Motors that's for sure. "Where do all the limos go at night?" indeed . . .

Tiresome, uneventful drivel, swooned over by the critics. I couldn't wait to get rid of my two disc Sainsbury's exclusive dvd.

I was expecting and hoping for greatness, how wrong was i? :lol:

I enjoy Cold War thrillers as well.

I'm trying to remember what it is now, but I'd have to go down there to check it out (which I should do, as I get the bus to work in South Leeds from the corn exchange pretty much every day).

Movie Boulevard? Does that ring a bell?

I'm trying to think what store Dem means too, I know the excellent Vinyl Tap used be down that way but I can't think of a movie store

Yeah Movie Boulevard. It was a smallish shop built into an old viaduct. All the shops had that arch look to them on there.

Oh yeah, I knew you meant MB but... I just don't know what it is NOW. The corn exchange was gutted three or four years ago to make way for a new era of identikit health food shops. The surrounding shops have been less affected outwardly, but I don't know what has replaced 'Movie Boulevard', which I know went a couple of years ago (I think?)

aah right.

Wow! I'm with the critics then. I couldn't get enough of it. So many great little character moments packed into the running time, all performed to perfection by the ensemble cast. Would've liked a bit more time with Toby Jones' Alleline though, especially as we never saw his fall from grace at the end. Superb production design, unfussy in the detail in the way some period dramas get bogged down by. And all directed with Alfredson's (and/or his cinematographer's) extrordinary eye for slick shot composition. Can't wait to see what he does next . . .

Towards the end of last year i started buying as many Cold War thrillers as i could and really got into them - The Ipcress File, The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, Scorpio, Funeral in Berlin, Billion Dollar Brain to name but a few.

I was really looking forward to Tinker Tailor... and ended up so disappointed.

Day off work, had nothing else to do so sat down with a few movies I haven't seen before.
First off was:
Caligula (1979) the uncut version: not one to watch if your expecting company! Although the missus did pop in and rolled her eyes! (Although she dosent share my interest in movies she knows I'll collect and watch almost anything!)
McBain (1991) Enjoyed this one although I thought it was older at least mid eighties!
Satans Baby Doll (1982) This belongs in the pile of WTF did I just watch? A case of judgeing the book by its cover! I was waiting for a really cool red Satan to appear! All I got was possession, masturbation, lesbianism, revenge and drug abuse.............Some would say it wasn't a complete waste of 74 minutes then! :)

Malcom x.

Still a classic (imo) and looks a treat on blu-ray. A Real epic that deals with the subject matter very even handedly and ends up being one of my favourite spike lee joints. Certainly up there with do the right thing and clockers.

Yep, I saw it again recently after finishing Malcom's book and it has aged very well...

I remember that corn exchange... I haven't been in Leeds since the 90's but I still have a fantastic psychedelic colored Spacemen 3 LP I picked up in a cool record store in Leeds...

http://s.discogss.com/image/R-397411-1293203442.jpeg

Love Ipcress and Billion Dollar Brain (the latter so bonkers! A superb antidote to the dull as hell Feneral in Berlin)! I didn't go in expecting something in a similar mold, having watched the tv series for the first time only recently, so maybe that's why I wasn't left disappointed . . .

Killer Joe-Excellent film by William Freidkin and a career best performance from Matthew McConaughey as the sadistic titular Killer Joe. Not as violent as I was expecting and when it ended I rather oddly fancied a KFC :eek:

The press were served KFC at some of the critics screenings :lol: . . .

Ha ha, I wonder how many of them still feel the same way about fried chicken!

Yeah, although that scene was pretty horrible, reading about it going in I was expcecting the wing to be inserted into a different hole :eek::eek::eek: when the scene came around I was like 'phew, it could've been worse' :lol: . . .

That is exactly what I was expecting, I guess that's the kind of mindset many of us have these days from all the exploitation shite we all love so dearly :lol:

Just watched I Am Bruce Lee. Didn't really feel it to be honest. a weird UFC focus in the middle, a bizarre choice of talking heads and just a few odd points. not recommended.

Just watched Pieces (of shit:lol:), haven't watched it for a while so I'd forgotten how ridiculous the damn thing is, bad dubbing, worse acting, absurd dialogue, a completely pointless and stupid kung fu scene and a score that could quite easily have Claudio Simonetti filing a lawsuit against the film makers. Needless to say, it's still a grindhouse classic and one I enjoy immensely every time I watch it

I was also a bit like that, but found the paragraph McConaughy's performance and the sadism he inflicted to make it almost as bad!

My Piece's DVD from Arrow's one hour deal arrived today, will certaily give it a watch over the weeked, the ending is a classic!:eyebrows:

Last night I watched the BR of Red Dawn, a guilty pleasure of mine. While this evening I watched the Butcher brothers film "The Hamiltons" (German BR which I picked up for 7 Euros ish) in preparation for the imminent arrival of its sequel "The Thompsons"

MOST DANGEROUS GAME.

A big game hunter is washed up on an island and finds himself the prey of a deranged hunter who has decided humans are the most dangerous game. Filmed as a b picture on the same sets as the much Bigger King kong and utilising some of the same cast, MDG turns out to be a genuine classic in its own right. With some scenes of horror that are genuinely shocking, including the trophy room the film serves up a surprising amount of violence, and the beautiful Fay Wray is present to provide the sex appeal! Well shot, making excellent use of sets, editing and camera work it's a film that is highly recommended especially if you can get the region free blu-ray from the states that makes the film look as good as it ever will look.

Attachment 90622


The discs b-picture, GOW, is an odd beast, possibly the earliest 'mondo' movie i've ever seen purporting to show the cannibals and headhunters of the south sea island, the narrartion is stilted and fairly racist, but the footage itself is facinating and worth seeking out.

The commentary track on dangerous game is somewhat dry and academic but contains some intersting info, and I hevent heard the one for GOW. Theres also a lovely little book in the package as well.

It's a bit dear, but worth treating yourself if you have any interest in the movie.

2001:A SPACE ODYSSEY. I'd never seen this before and had no idea what to expect...bloody hell! Mad monkeys, zero gravity toilet jokes, spaceships that look like sperm, rogue computers, clothing and furnishing fetishism and murder. Then all the crazy shit starts.

I really like the pacing of the film which drifts along through the void created by the absence of plot for most of the film. Stunningly beautiful in places and just beautiful in others, it truly is a pleasure to watch. The use of music, noise and silence are very impressive too.

As to it's meaning...for me it is just one of the endless possibilities to be found beyond Lina Romay's black monolith. See my review of 'Exorcism' in the Cult Labs Members Review thread for further details and post a review while you are there. It's Jesus Franco month, how good is that.