What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

This is the second glowing review of The House With Laughing Windows i've read in two days.

Time for a revisit i think as i really didn't rate it when i watched the Shameless dvd.

Might be the mood you were in. Also it's quite unusual. Avati wasn't interested in the giallo genre and the film is probably more horror.

[SymbioticFunction]

House With Laughing Windows is solid but the twist ending is a bit silly and hurts the film.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Might be the mood you were in. Also it's quite unusual. Avati wasn't interested in the giallo genre and the film is probably more horror.

I think the fact it wasn't remotely a giallo disappointed me at the time.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

House With Laughing Windows is solid but the twist ending is a bit silly and hurts the film.

It's a somewhat illogical ending but by that point the films operating at the level of nightmare. It makes sense within the films own inner logic.

[Demoncrat]

Hello. I return for this shortest of times

Thor: Ragnarok.
I laughed. It's a 12 isn't it? Interesting that.... might watch the other two (never really cared for the Norse chap as a comics reader tbh), I know they aren't as riven with humor, but I like Hiddleston's Loki.

So then I watched ....Doctor Strange. This being the Cumberbatch film and not the 1978 TVM again . Okish origin story I suppose. Great to see Benny Wong in it btw!!

Devils Gate. FBI agent is sent to investigate a missing woman and child. What she finds is not in her manual . Reasonable enough. Ryker turns up as the sheriff . Semi recommended.

I Love you Daddy. Interesting tale of familial discord. If you like/know Louis CK's stuff.... you will applaud the man. If not....well there's always The Mummy

Tragedy Girls. Overly smartarsed "horror comedy". Pretty leads, but I could take it or leave it.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Hellraiser: Deader (2005)

My second viewing after a long time since my first. I wanted to like this more than I did, because as a standalone film it actually works pretty well. But it's just unconvincing as part of the Hellraiser mythology; these elements feel forced and tacked on, ruining an interesting premise, and a sleazy affair with effective nasty imagery. A shame.

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

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Starting a MCU marathon in chronological order.

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

[Nostalgic]

Raw- gripping French movie, best to go in blind, lots of good reviews (everyone must have heard of it by now) about a trainee vet, vegatarian who tries meat for the first time during a hazing ritual. Let's just say body horror meets We Are What We Are & leave it at that. Liked it but would't watch again.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Toxic Avenger (1984)
The Toxic Avenger Part II (1989)
The Toxic Avenger Part III: The Last Temptation of Toxie (1989)
Citizen Toxie: The Toxic Avenger IV (2000)

Wow! This was one bad series of films. I watched each one in the hope it may be a Killjoy scenario where the sequels actually improve on the first film, but no. The Toxic Avenger is easily the best of the bunch mainly because it's short. The others are all well over 100 minutes each and scenes really drag even action, of which there's a lot but it's so ineptly done.

Truly, truly, dire...the lot of em'.

[gag]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Winchester.

I was interested in seeing this as I was aware of the true story its based upon. I first came across the story in Alan Moore's Swamp thing. It was one of the creepier issues and I was surprised at the time to discover it was based on fact. Sadly the Spierig brothers take on the story takes the story and delivers a haunted house film that falls flat on its arse.
I'm not opposed to jump scares per se so long as they come on top of a film that crafts a palpable sense of dread and suspense. Unfortunately there is neither dread nor suspense. Not even particularly well crafted characters. The period detail is great and Helen Mirren does her best with what she was given but sadly the end result is fairly naff. I guarantee this one will end up in poundland.

House with laughing windows.

Speaking of films that generate a sense of dread, House with Laughing windows has this in spades. Down on his luck Stefano heads into rural Italy after being hired to restore a Fresco of the martyrdom of Saint Sebastian in a local church. The Fresco is incredibly violent and disturbing and Stefano begins to investigate the story behind the artist. A local madman involved in an incestuous relationship with his two sisters. The trio had been kidnapping, torturing and murdering people to provide the artist with inspiration for his work. Stefano's obsession grows deeper when his friend is murdered and his investigation leads him to a run down villa with laughing windows.
While Classed as a Giallo, with some of the Hallmarks of the genre including a central character who thinks he might have seen something important. Like Martino's All the colours of the dark, this one crosses over into outright horror. It has a slow burning plot that skillfully cranks up the tension and the atmosphere of utter dread even in scenes that are sunny and picturesque. The final act moves into the realm of nightmare pushing logic to one side to create a sense that what is coming is impossible to avoid no matter how much the character struggles. Highly recommended

We just seen the film Winchester house , yes I agree it wasn't a particular good film , and the scare relied on the music because it was sudden and loud to make you jump and not the scene itself .
My opinion if going to base a film on a true story of something by chance that a lot of people don't know then this is the wrong kind of induction to it ,
It really should have been told about her and the house , and her family running the business and her inheritance to build the house etc, you get brief outline of the story in the film but no real background , eg her first encounter of a ghost and how did she come to the conclusion of building a house and trapping the ghost etc . the film itself should give you full background of the story and not through bits of conversation's in the film.
Sam now fascinated with the story behind it can anyone recommended a good book for her to buy on the story please .

[keirarts]

Den of thieves

Gerard 'stabby' Butler has built something of a career in Hoĺlywood starring in a series of dumb yet weirdly entertaining nonsense that back in the eighties/nineties would have ended up as the perfect accompaniment to eight cans of larger and a takeaway pizza. The thing is, however critically trashed they get they tend to be watchable, if not actually fun. Hell as utterly stupid as it was, London has fallen was never boring.
Even so I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It's two and a half hours, some of it flab that could be cut. However it feels much shorter. The easiest way to describe it is Michael Mann's HEAT as reimagined by Cannon films. Butler is playing an utter grotesque. An overweight, sweaty, chain smoking drunk. He's not too interested in the tiresome routine of cop work. Instead he and his crew kidnap and torture suspects for information while partying with whores. He contaminates crime scenes and is perfectly fine with letting the crew of bank robbers know he's on to them, playing a dick measuring game (Not literally!) While the crooks try and get on with the task at hand. We get scenes of Bultlers cop getting divorced from his wife that serve little purpose other than to show what a knob he is. Something we're all too aware of. Scenes like these are the flab and honestly could have been cut.
While the whole is not the sum of its parts with this film the film has enough well executed scenes including some terrific robbery scenes and an entertaining ending.
I don't normally rate films out of ten, however I'd say this is a solid 7/10 if I had to.