Fando & Lis
Jodorowsky's debut film. A man and his paralysed girlfriend travel to find a mystical city, where there is only love; during their travels they meet many strange characters.
As with El Topo and The Holy Mountain, there is a lot of ideas throughout, however this one feels much more restrained with regards to the imagery throughout. It's still rather f**ked up though and is definitely worth checking out.
8/10

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Decemberdike
 

December 17th - Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2016)

A zombie parody of the 1813 novel Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen. I quite enjoyed the film even though it never really delivers on it's premise that successfully. Yes there are zombies, lot's of them throughout the film as well as lots of action and zombie slaying, but it lacked a certain magic in the script that would have made it great. It also lacked scares which was even worse.

The film sports an excellent cast including Sam Riley, Lily James, Lena Headey, Charles Dance and former Doctor Who Matt Smith who i felt stole the show with his quirky mannerisms, in fact he wasn't a million miles away from his Time Lord persona. The more i think about the film whilst typing this the more i feel had Smith not been involved it would have ended up far lower down in my estimations.

Scarlet Street (1945)

Fritz Lang's excellent Noir drama about a man and failed painter (Edward G Robinson) in the throes of a mid life crisis as he hooks up with a younger woman and becomes embroiled in her life of corruption with small time con Dan Duryea.

Joan Bennett's Kitty is a prime example of a femme fatale and Robinson falls under her spell most willingly. The whole film is a superb play off between her, Robinson and sleazy Duryea. Lang revels in exploiting Robinson's genuine nice man and screwing him up so badly as to turn him into the polar opposite come the finale and his descent into what is basically a living hell he can't escape from.

Thanks to Crimson Blade and Bizarre_Eye for the recommendation.

The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (2012)

A somewhat overlong but still enjoyable first (of three) chapter of Tolkien's Hobbit story. Following a dubious opening where even faces looked like they were trapped in CGI hell, things settled down and i quickly got into the quest of wizard Gandalf, Hobbit Bilbo Baggins and 13 Dwarves.

Martin Freeman is excellent as Baggins and was a focal point for the film as i found most of the Dwarves to blend into one aside from Richard Armitage and Poldark's Aiden Turner. This didn't take anything away from a fun three hours that was full of asides i didn't recall from reading the story which were most likely put in to flesh out the running time and add references to Jackson's Lord of the Rings trilogy.

Although An Unexpected Journey pales when compared with the first of the Rings films - The Fellowship of the Ring - i look forward to continuing the journey across Middle Earth in the next day or two.

School for Sex (1968)

Lord Wingate (a likable, roguish, Derek Aylward) acquitted after appearing in court for fraud, starts up a finishing school to teach girls how to extract money from rich men.

Sexy goings on from horror auteur Pete Walker. Well acted, with a witty script (and actual laughs) as well as sexy girls including Françoise Pascal. Lightweight but chock full of smut almost like a St Trinian's film with added nudity, this is a class above the David Sullivan productions i saw earlier in the month and a British sex comedy i recommend.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TYRy5bCsWF8


well i went in expecting the worst, but i really enjoyed it, Ok i can see why some stuff might of upset people, but i found it a very fun film which moved the characters on and unlike force awakens it wasn't jumping from place to place for no real reason only three places four if you included space. lets get on to what was most peoples bugbear that they didn't like in the film, Luke, me i liked what they did as it showed him to be a human and flawed individual and i loved his line to Rey say to you expect me to take on the whole first order with a laser sword(or something along those lines) which is what some people were expecting but much preferred how they did handle it, than Rey arriving asking Luke for help and they go on there way.

a story was told here and just didn't jump from one action scene to the next unlike force. also like that they didn't go with the obvious for Rey(of course this upset the fans). the middle was bloated and film could of been 20 minutes shorter, and i really didn't care much for the casino planet part but i enjoyed Benicio del Toro's character and don't get me started on the god awful Mary Poppins/Leia scene but that was made up for the wonderful scene between Luke and Leia(which was full of warmth and brought a tear to my eye). we had one scene which was just pure fan service which involved Luke and someone else and was a joy to watch. mention has to go to Adam Driver who was very good and the character of Kylo REn has improved greatly from the last film

the entire audience appeared to like it and most if not all seemed to have positive things to say about while leaving. it might not be the star wars film some wanted but i was more than happy and would put on the same level as Return of the Jedi, a solid 8/10 for me.

Star Wars: Episode V - The Empire Strikes Back (1980)

****1/2 out of *****

Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi (1983)

Yes, it’s the weakest of the original trilogy, but it’s still a great film, and still better than the prequels and The Force Awakens. Although, Rouge One just edges it. I'm seeing The Last Jedi tomorrow.

**** out of *****

Decemberdike
 

December 18th - Blood Rage (1983)

A by the numbers slasher about twins who murder a couple at a drive-in theatre. One of the twins is found guilty and locked away the other released. But which was the actual killer? No one can tell them apart.

There's absolutely nothing to this American regional slasher that is remotely original, even the murders are telegraphed and yet i found it utterly entertaining and better than most of it's ilk. The acting borders on drama school standard but it's highly exploitative and the gore is inventive and lovingly applied in plentiful quantities. In a way it's similar to the brilliant Don't Open Till Christmas (1984) in that there's a murder every few minutes, and that after all, is what slasher films are all about.

Excellent.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWHyvubVdPA

A classic Christopher Reeve IS superman who manages too capture the spirit of the character like noone before or since, it might of aged but still plenty of fun to be had and lightyears ahead of man of steel, along with star wars it's has one of the most iconic scores in motion picture history. 9/10

Was in the mood for a festive themed movie,so watching Batman returns.

Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)

*** out of *****

**** the fanboy haters! The Last Jedi is a great Star Wars film. All the stuff they’ve been complaining about, I didn’t have a problem with… at all. It’s not perfect, but neither was Return of the Jedi and Rogue One, and they’re great as well. I'll elaborate later in the Star Wars thread.

**** out of *****

My new Star Wars rankings:

The Empire Strikes Back
A New Hope
The Last Jedi
Rogue One
Return of the Jedi
Revenge of the Sith
The Force Awakens
Attack of the Clones
The Phantom Menace