What Films Have You Seen Recently? - Page 4566

trebor8273 · #**45651** 26th February 2018, 05:54 PM

this could of been very good but it really just seemed to jump from one scene too the next with no real story or progression and motive for the killer, all he does is fly around in his chopper pick up women and beheading then and placing the heads in jars and then feeding some of the body parts to his legion of pussies and then his mute man servant burns what is left and that all that happens. with the film being an hour and just jumping from one kill to the next its feels like a huge part of the movie is cut out and thats the part with the plot. 5/10

tonight's viewings

manhunt in the city
super infaman

Nosferatu@Cult Labs · #**45652** 26th February 2018, 06:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Justin101

I spent the afternoon with Thor: Ragnarok. I had high expectations as everyone I know who's seen it said it was terrific, but it's the worst of the three Thor films in my opinion. Has some great bits and it looks good, but the humour seems out of place and it felt long! Somebody here was looking forward to Dr Strange being in it, it's a 5 minute cameo I'm afraid. Not terrible by any means, but not one I'll be rushing back to for a rewatch.

I thoroughly enjoyed it at the cinema and watched it at home yesterday evening, loving it again. I don't think I enjoyed it as much because I wasn't surprised by any of the plot twists or jokes, but spotting the Easter eggs I knew about and a few details I missed in the cinema means I'll probably rewatch it numerous times with the commentary and sandwich between the films which precede and follow it in the MCU.

Frankie Teardrop · #**45653** 26th February 2018, 08:23 PM

FLOWERS – Underground horror from Phil Stevens. It’s a sepia tinted dreamscape, free of any dialogue, that manages to summon a heady atmosphere in its depiction of some people walking around in a house. I’m not being flippant, that’s basically what happens. Don’t come here looking for a decent storyline, there isn’t one, although an implied narrative about the female victims of a serial killing necro-pornographer wandering through purgatory comes through. ‘Flowers’ is far more a movie of textures, tones and images than anything to do with the twists and turns of human drama. What’s on show is pretty grotty, a world of damp cellars and crawlspaces choking with offal and human remains where a naked fat guy ramming a corpse for his pay-as-you-view porn audience rubs entrails into his tiny genitals… nice. Be that as it may, ‘Flowers’ isn’t really all that gross or transgressive when stacked against many of the underground nasties of the last twenty years or so. There’s some worm barfing and a bit of wound mismanagement, but the emphasis isn’t really on gore somehow; it seems to be going more for a weirdly contemplative, meditative vibe, albeit with decomposing pig heads instead of singing bowls. In this, it doesn’t necessarily fall short, though nor does it capture the hypnagogic quality of a film like ‘Eraserhead’ – a too easy comparison, but ‘Flowers’ does seem to be going for something similarly zoned out. Celebrated in some quarters, whereas I thought it was pretty good and interesting although it didn’t rock me as much as I maybe anticipated. On the other hand, I’m just pleased that people are making this kind of stuff.

SLIME CITY MASSACRE – Remember ‘Slime City’, that largely likeable body melt movie from the late eighties with a nice fx driven gross out climax? This is the sequel, twenty years on from the original. Quite a lot has changed, inside the film and out. In SCM, NYC is a sort-of post-apocalyptic cess-pit, where starving ‘survivor’ types forage some yoghurt from a derelict cellar – lo and behold, it turns them into melt-faced weirdos intent on slimy murder. There’s a backstory about the cult whose nefarious deeds led to all this happening in the first place. SLC is a very different proposition to its forebear and doesn’t gain much from sharp and harsh shot-on-HD; also, I could’ve done with a lot more gore, splatteryness or just weirdness… it’s fairly fast paced, but in the sense of people going around doing what? I’m being a bit churlish actually, there are lots of good moments, but they felt a bit spaced out to me. Set alongside most of the last decade’s microbudget genre offerings, it doesn’t do too badly. With Debbie Rochon.

FRIGHTMARE – No, not the Pete Walker flick, this is ‘Frightmare’ AKA ‘The Horror Star’. About this dude who is basically, well, a horror star – we know this, because he wears a cape and vampire make-up and comes on like a low rent Christopher Lee. Sadly, he dies… but of course it’s not that straightforward if you’re a horror star, certainly not if a bunch of brats break into your mausoleum just to take the piss and play around with your corpse – haven’t they seen ‘Children Shouldn’t Play with Dead Things’? ‘Frightmare’ is a weird film. It plays out pretty much as a product of the slasher era, but nods to gothic in a deliberate but half-baked manner within that very eighties context. The results are often baffling – death by levitating coffin, did I imagine that? Can’t remember, but a young Jeff Combs gets decapitated and there’s lots of dry ice. Too well made to be a hardcore head scratcher, but still leans heavily enough towards the inexplicable end of the schlock spectrum to leave you feeling a bit ‘eh?’ Thumbs up from Frankie.

Demoncrat · #**45654** 26th February 2018, 10:44 PM

Sold x3!!

Another spiffing set of reviews F!!

Kudos.

keirarts · #**45655** 27th February 2018, 07:04 AM

Mute

After Cloverfield Paradox, an underwhelming generic direct to video quality science fiction tale that then had Cloverfield welded on to try and sell it to people other than the late night, drunken Netflix surfer looking for cheap laughs, the Netflix original logo on science fiction films is in danger of becoming like having Uwe Boll's name stamped all over the credits. So along comes Mute, a film beset by countless 1/5 scores and things are not looking good. I opted to watch it regardless as I like Duncan Jones as a director. Moon was a genuine classic, Source code was a terrific summer blockbuster underpinned by some great ideas, and Warcraft.... well it wasn't that bad. I enjoyed it well enough even if it seemed bewildering in placers.
So, is it garbage? No. It's going to disappoint a lot of Moon fans I suspect and I'm not going to say the critics are wrong (I'm tempted to mention last jedi but I don't want to provoke essay length responses about how i'm drunk and the critics are all in Disney's pockets) but I think there's more to the movie than they have given it credit for.
It's central plot is about Leo, an Amish man living in the distant future in a blade runner-esque Berlin. Leo is mute after a speedboat accident damages his throat and his techno-phobic mother refuses the cyber augmentation that will give him his voice. He's dating a woman named Naadirah and the pair seem to be in love. She works as a waitress at the same bar Leo works at. Then one day she disappears. A distraught Leo decides to go searching for her which leads him on an odyssey through the seedy underbelly of future Berlin and two underground surgeons Duck and Cactus Bill who are tied in to the local crime syndicate.
The central plot is essentially lifted from the film-noir cliche bin and thrown into a cyberpunk setting. Not exactly an original premise. After Blade runner it was almost standard for a large chunk of cyberpunk storytelling. Hell, people even complained about it in Blade Runner 2049 and that was essentially a sequel to the film that did it first. I suspect though the plot is essentially designed to take us through the world the characters inhabit. Leo is an interesting guide in that respect as he's almost as much of a blank slate as we are. His character is deliberately rooted in the past. The fact that he's Amish (though the idea that the Amish are completely against progress is not necessarily as true as a lot of people believe), his apartment which is littered with things from the past including a record player and vinyl collection. Also his hobby of woodwork and sketching which all tie him to a past that is steadily being consumed by progress. He's almost as bewildered at the things he finds as the audience are supposed to be. Not just the technological advances but the genuine darkness that lies beneath human nature. Alexander Skarsgård's performance is great, echoing silent film stars (another nod to the past. Also Metropolis) and certainly helps the film a lot. Paul Rudd is excellent as Cactus Bill, a man trapped in Berlin and desperate to get home to America. Justin Theroux quietly steals things as well as a seemingly nice amiable guy who is gradually revealed to be a bigger monster than anyone else in the film. The Berlin location is also a neat idea. It ties it both to cold war cinema and to silent cinema. There are elements of both in the film, especially mute Leo and the Americans trapped in a foreign land and I'm sure this is a nod to that.
Ultimately the film falls short in many ways but I liked it more than a lot of people did. I really like high concept science fiction like this, even when its not working like it should. Its a collection of interesting ideas that don't quite fit and that stops it being a classic. Its no cloverfield Paradox either. For some reason it reminded me of Wim Wenders Until the end of the world Another slice of science fiction that was too damn long and didn't quite work but still managed to keep my interest. Netflix is the perfect home for it. Blade 2049 is a better cyberpunk film in many ways and that demanded to be seen on the biggest screen you can fnd. I've almost deliberately avoided seeing that on home viewing as I can't imagine it would look as good. Mute on the other hand, in spite of some of the scope is a smaller and more intimate picture that's content to have its characters root around the underbelly of the city.
I won't guarantee that you'll like it. However if your stuck for something to see give it a chance.

Justin101 · #**45656** 27th February 2018, 08:44 AM

This one seems appropriate for today! I'm not sure if I'll get around to all 3 parts mind you.

Cinematic Shocks · #**45657** 27th February 2018, 11:48 AM

Killing Ground (2016)

A damn good Aussie directorial debut that uses the old bad shit happens in the woods convention, but gives it a fresh take with some inventive narrative structuring, and it features plenty of truly effective chilling moments. It's well shot, edited, and scored, and the acting is solid all around.

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