What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Speedy Hen via the tax cheats have it new for £21 delivered. That's about a tenner less than i bought it for.

There are some terrific episodes. My favourites being The Battery People and Invasion. Sadly several episodes in Doctor Who fashion no longer exist but the box set does include the untransmitted episode Sex and Violence. Guess what that deals with?

Oooh off the top of my head .... sentient seaweed??
Noted. Ta. Speedy Hen. Like that .

[gag]

Den of thieves

Based on a true story about a gang of retired criminals who carried out a major heist in London's famous diamond district. stars Michael Caine, Charlie Cox, Michael Gambon, Ray Winstone, Tom Courtenay, and Jim Broadbent.
Because its a heist don't expect lots of action violence etc because it doesn't happen, what it does do is not take itself to serious and glorifies the bank robbery , its just plods along at a pace that is just right , first half concentrates on the robbery setting it up and problems they have doing it, 2nd half on them arguing about who got what and who trying to stitch who up, and the police catching them , its got lots of humour without going down the actual comedy route , and because they are old it also shows the side of what its like being old eg illness and not being able to concentrate without your tablets etc, over all a nice solid performance 8 out of 10 , just found Paul Whitehouse a bit of a strange cast for this type of film. It won't blow you away but it will do the job and that's enjoy it for what it is and leave the cinema satisfied, one I will buy at some point down the line

[keirarts]

Destruction babies

Boasting "the most extreme 108 minutes in Japanese cinema history" i'm not sure the film lives up to that boast. However while not the most extreme its certainly the most relentless. The central character is 18 year old Taira whose got a few screws loose. He's wandering the local town beating the shit out of people and getting the shit knocked out of himself as well. Taira's younger brother is a skater punk who wanders the cities red light districts and shopping centres looking for his brother. Taira's antics attract the attention of another teen called Yuya who also seems to have a few screws loose. He begins film Taira's antics and soon gets involved, escalating the pairs behaviour to the point the police get involved.
Destruction babies feels like the sort of teen violence picture Harmony Korine might make. The violence is brutal, somewhat realistic and quite nasty in places. It's also relentless, it left me feeling utterly pummelled and desensitised. I picked it up in Fopp for £6 and I highly recommend giving it a chance.

[Dave Boy]

47_l.jpg

Usually watch this every 17th September without fail but this year missed out so watched this again last night. Excellent!

[Paul Zombie]

Autopsy

A bizarre series of suicides, including a chap putting a bag over his head and jumping in the river and another blowing himself up in his car, is happening during a heatwave in Rome due to sun spots or whatever. but a medical pathologist(Mimsy farmer) thinks they could be murders and together with the help of a priest sets out to investigate.

Okay, this is one seriously odd film. it's supposed to be a giallo but it's nothing like the classic black glove maniac type wearing a trench coat. though it is quite a good mystery and fairly entertaining with strange imagery that is quite bizarre, especially with Mimsy farmer having visions of dead bodies in the morgue coming to life and having sex.
and then there's the weird art exhibition with pictures of real dead bodies in very unsual death scenes.

The cast do a fairly good job, but i'm not the biggest Mimsy farmer fan. She's not a bad actress but she has no appeal for me whatsoever, and is so cold and miserable compared to your Edwige Fenech and Barbara bouchets.
But Ray Lovelock who co stars as her boyfriend in the film always has a good presence and gives a good performance despite the dubbing.

Not to bad a film, and with nice music from Ennio Moricone. so i give this unusual giallo 74.5 out of 100.

[J Harker]

Went to watch The Predator this afternoon. Entertaining but daft. Certainly not the real sequel the first two deserved. Feels more like the Terminator Salvation of the franchise. I thought Predators was better.

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Destruction babies

Boasting "the most extreme 108 minutes in Japanese cinema history" i'm not sure the film lives up to that boast. However while not the most extreme its certainly the most relentless. The central character is 18 year old Taira whose got a few screws loose. He's wandering the local town beating the shit out of people and getting the shit knocked out of himself as well. Taira's younger brother is a skater punk who wanders the cities red light districts and shopping centres looking for his brother. Taira's antics attract the attention of another teen called Yuya who also seems to have a few screws loose. He begins film Taira's antics and soon gets involved, escalating the pairs behaviour to the point the police get involved.
Destruction babies feels like the sort of teen violence picture Harmony Korine might make. The violence is brutal, somewhat realistic and quite nasty in places. It's also relentless, it left me feeling utterly pummelled and desensitised. I picked it up in Fopp for £6 and I highly recommend giving it a chance.

SOLD

[Dave Boy]

attack_of_giant_leeches_poster.jpg
ATTACK OF THE GIANT LEECHES (1959)

B movie madness as giant leeches attack people in the local swamp.
The victims are taken to an underwater ledge and the blood slowly drained from them.
The lovely Yvette Vickers (Attack Of The 50ft Woman) supplies the glamour until she too, is dragged down to the bottom of the swamp.
The underwater cave scenes provide the film with it's most grotesque moments.
Nightmarish scenes of various victims, half dead being drained of blood by the leeches is actually quite a "wow" moment.
Great fun.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Possession (2012)

Danish director Ole Bornedal, he of the excellent Night Watch (1997), tries his hand at the supernatural in this tale of a girl from a fractured family who falls under the possession of a dybbuck (a malicious spirit from Jewish mythology).

Two very good leads in Jeffrey Dean Morgan and Kyra Sedgwick and a different twist on possession keep this film away from the ordinary. Certainly it falls into the traps all possession films do post Exorcist but this has enough realism - the film seems as much about divorce in the first half as it does good old fashioned scares - and chills to make it stand out from the pack.

The only thing that made it lose marks for me was the finale. Not that it was bad particularly, it was the heavy use of strobe lighting. I'm not one who suffers from flash induced epilepsy but still found it difficult to watch. Even with my eyes closed the darkened room was still flashing wildly, so stay away if it affects you.

On the whole a pretty decent effort.

[Demoncrat]

Noted D.

Crimes Of Passion (Ken Russell)
What a film. The abundance of sleaze a joy in itself. Whilst certain elements still bother me (I hate that bloody Rick Wakeman song!!! ) ... these are swept away by Anthony Perkins' performance ... a natural force of it's own. Lawdy!! A prostitute is caught between 2 so called 'saviours' within her clientele. Finally uncut and all. Recommended.