Just finished Flash Gordon forgotten what a fansatically camp and fun film it is:clap:

Tonights film was Red Nights which I originally saw at Dead by Dawn last year. The film is French language but set among the nightlife of HongKong (and features Carrie Ng). It is a technically accomplished film, with beautiful sumptuous photography and some memorable images. Although the story is relatively simple it manages to give a real sense of mystery. I enjoyed it at Dead by Dawn and again on this U.K. DVD.

After my recent attempt to catch up with my film watching the "too watch pile" is down to just two blu's now. I guess I will finally be forced to get a life (or maybe just start spending money again).

Star Wars is overrated and they are/he is a bit harsh on Matrix, Godfather and Alien. As for Planet of the Apes, it's just plain wrong!

Honestly, you guys do get your knickers in a twist! All I said was what I felt. It was horrible. Some may like it. Power to them. Rinse and repeat for Ken Park, Elfin Lied and The Brain that Would Not Die amongst other things I can't stand.:lol:
Watched Return of the Living Dead this afternoon. MOST of us can agree it's excelent. As it is.:nod:

Rollerball (1975)
The Deep (1977)
The Black Hole (1979)

I agree with him on Matrix, not Planet of the Apes because I love the sequels, I've never seen The Godfather :censored: so I can't speak of that :blush:

I've stopped caring about Star Wars now since I can't watch an unbastardised version of it any more and I doubt I ever will in HD.

I know I'm in the minority of not liking that one :shocked: . . .

S'cool! I can see how it might not be to everyones taste, the comedys is prity OTT at times, but the atmosphere and cracking gags mixed with black gore are what make it for me. One of the better zombie movies of the time.

Yeah, I just felt the stodgy direction sucked all of the energy out of the film. Should've been directed by a young dude, like a Raimi or Jim Muro. ...And I didn't laugh once :mmph: . . .

Does the UK DVD of Red Nights have an anamorphic transfer?

Fair enough if you just said it was rubbish (which it was!). It's was the immoral, vile, contemptuous etc etc, much like the Ken Park business. If you don't like it, fair play, but to then moralise/soapbox about it's content? Not on.

You run the risk of becoming the forum's very own Mary WhiteHawk.

And to actually believe that kids were only inspired to have out of control parties because of the film? Of course they're going to blame an outside influence. I suppose Child's Play 3 killed James Bulger as well?

:pound:

RIDER ON THE RAIN.

A neglected (by me) classic. A young woman in a sleepy french town witnesses a stranger come into town, later he turns up at her house and rapes her. Later that evening she realises he's still there and ends up shooting him dead. Soon after another stranger turns up (played by CHARLES BONSON) and tells her he knows she killed the man, and he wants to know where the money he stole is. Of course she has no idea about any cash, and vehemently denies killing the man, what follows is a cat and mouse battle of wits betwen the protagonists.

A really well shot slow burner with a great plot and a fine performance from brosnan. I watched the shorter theatrical cut of the film so I could make it to my buddies in time to watch...

ARACHNOQUAKE!

Silly Sy-fi channel nonsense with edward furlong, an earthquake releases a bunch of giant killer spiders that the cast must fight to survive. If you've seen
nay other sy-fi origionals this will hold few surprises but its awful trashy fun and eddie furlong has a perpetual expession on his face as if something died inside of him a long time ago. Followed this up with another trashy gem...

Alien infiltration.

A trophy wife and her gold digging mother kill their rich-hick husband in order to claim on the life insurance and property, unfortunately an alien crash lands in the scrap yard where the body is and is killing anyone who comes near. The greedy pair offer 100,000 dollars to anyone who can retrieve the corpse. Cue a long line of greedy, desperate pychos/morons looking to cash in and the bloodbath begins. Then film has a great role for roddy piper and is totally aware of how ludicrous it is, so instead of scares prefers to go for outrageous strange and surreal humour intersperced with bloody violence. It may be no classic but its damnned good fun.

Bare in mind if you walk into your local thats entertainment you can get BOTH these gems on blu-ray for FIVE POUNDS...bargain imo!:nod:

Just watched another couple of classics:coolblue:
And Now The Screaming Starts (Peter Cushing)
Theatre Of Death (Christopher Lee)
Both are very enjoyable classic British horrors:clap:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedi...county_usa.jpg

Harlan County, USA (1976)

Wow, what an experience with this brilliant documentary. It is a very revealing, candid, and sometimes tragic portrait of the life of a coal miner.

I think for most of us it may be hard to grasp what a coal mine is to some areas in the United States. Not only is it a job or career for most of these people, it is a way of life and inherent to their culture. They live, sleep and smell coal. Most of these people had meager living conditions while working in an unsafe work environment and being paid very little by the companies that owned the mines, who continued to rake in massive profits. This documentary examines their life while on strike, fighting for health benefits and safety restrictions among other pertinent issues.

The stark contrast between the picketing men and their women and the "scabs", or people who are usually brought in to work despite the union strike, is evident immediately. The tension between the two groups and the tactics they use is almost unbelievable that it would be allowed to go on for so long.

The folk music soundtrack provides an alluring atmosphere that never lets up. Each word that is sung is tied to the images we're being shown which makes them all the more powerful. Even if the subject matter doesn't interest you, I highly recommend this documentary to anyone that enjoys informative and resonating material that is sure to leave you thinking.

Watched a couple of titles recently. DARK OF THE SUN, the R1 Warner archive release. Great movie, would love to see an uncut version of this one day!

Also watched the DVD of TALES OF TERROR, which wasn't so great. This is the anthology of Japanese 5-minute horror films, you get 33 of 'em spread over two discs. A bit of a chore to sit through, seeing as most of them are RING/GRUDGE rips and 5 minutes just isn't enough time to build atmosphere, character, etc...

Tonight I watched Night of the Living Dead on blur-ray. which is my second favourite Romero film (I have a soft spot for Knightriders).

Scanners (1981)

Still the best exploding head in the movies.

Singin' in the Rain. (1951)

Pure Hollywood gold. Unforgettable song and dance routines, a brilliantly witty script and fantastic performances from all, especially the fleet footed Donald O' Connor. Not to mention Cyd Charisse's incomparable pins which would make this a 5 star film on their own.

As a footnote. Am i the only one who thinks this would make an ideal double bill with Berberian Sound Studio?

Camiile (1921)
The Three Musketeers (1921)
The Kid (1921)
Nosferatu (1921)

http://www.cult-labs.com/forums/memb...tml#post319982

FORT APACHE THE BRONX.

Paul newman stars in this gritty slice of life cop drama set in the bronx in the late seventies/early eighties. Theres no real big central plot, it looks like pam grier as the cop killing hooker might be it but its more generally about policing a neighbourhood blighted by unemployment and social decay. It got some stick at the time apparently for only showing the negative aspects of living in the bronx and none of the people struggling to turn things around but in all fairness it is a cop drama first and foremost. Perhaps a film our current government might want to watch before making more people unemployed.

BATTLE BENEATH THE EARTH.

Racist slice of red-baiting as the army discovers chinese communists attempting to tunnel into america. Actually crosses over into the so-daft-its good category it also serves as a painful reminder of how incredibly dumb film portrayals of asians could be, parts of the film are as cringeworthy as breakfast at tiffanys.

THE ULTIMATE WARRIOR.

Yul brinner in a post apocalypse survival movie..count me in! Really enjoyable if somewhat flawed in places movie where yul ends up getting hired to protect a bunch of survivors from the savages. Some great sets and depictions of the apocalypse and plenty of violence!

BRAIN DAMAGE - Frank H's follow up to 'Basket Case' is a victory for low budget slime. Actually, it's made with verve, passion and wit, so I question my own use of the term 'low budget slime', but, like all of Henenlotter's films, its heart is clearly in the gutter. My love for this film has grown over the years. I actually remember feeling disappointed when I first saw it at age fourteen or whatever. I was expecting something really transgressive and bleakly disturbing, and ended up with what I thought was yet another comedy horror. Time has unveilled 'Brain Damage's hallucinatory twistedness, and, watching it now, it seems very far removed from standard genre fare of its era. It may throw a few gags at the audience, but it's a trip into NYC's heart of darkness, with Henenlotter serving up a side order of sleazy vignettes and warped characters to complement the main course, the tale of a young guy being driven mad by a wise-cracking, brain-eating psychedelic parasite. There's no flab on this killer baby - it just rattles along with relentless intensity. Maybe one of the eighties' best and recommended for sure (dunno whether I'd say the same for 'The Swimming Pool Qs').

THE GRAPES OF DEATH - Super but in some ways atypical Rollin flick from the late seventies. Gorier and less sentimental than most of his others - what it lacks in romantically doomed female vampire double acts swooning for each other on windswept beaches it makes up for in pseudo-zombie action. It still has the unmistakable vibe of a Rollin film - hard to define, I can only resort to cliches such as 'dreamy', 'desolate', 'languid but menacing' etc etc, but you'll all know what I mean. I like the weirdly political thrust of it all, and the ham fisted left vs right debates of the protag's rescuers struck me as being hilarious the first time I saw it, and, horror stuff aside, scenes like Bridget Lahai looking imperious in a room full of animal skins with a stuffed owl in the corner are somehow the essence of Rollin.

Finished up the evening with a dose of

AMITYVILLE 4: The evil escapes.

It's a shoddy film for sure but god help me I have a real soft spot for this one. I caught it on telly many years ago (when I would tape pretty much any half interesting sounding film off the telly) and enjoyed it a great deal more than I probably should have done. After a bunch of priests perform an exorcism on the amityville house and finally seem to rid the place of the evil that infests it the landlord decides to flog off all the furniture in a yard sale. Deciding a creepy looking anthropomorphic lamp from one of americas most cursed properties would make a great 'ironic' gift, a dotty spinster sends her sister the lamp as a gift. Unfortunately the sister has her daughter and grandkids staying and the lamp begins to terrorise the household!

I think this was made for tv, it certainly feels it, but its cheap and nasty enough to be enjoyable in the same way films like ghosthouse, house of lost souls and the witchery are enjoyable, you know their trash but its part of the charm. I think the main thing with this film is its not dull, the ending is laugh out loud (amityville the cat anyone?)

L'uomo senza memoria/Puzzle (1974)

Not a typical multi-murder giallo, but an enjoyable low key mystery thriller. One of the rare times when I actually cared about the female lead, which made the finale even better.

The Night Evelyn Came Out of the Grave

While I enjoyed it a little more second time round, (Still prefer the camper but way more entertaining Red Queen) it's still hard to give a damn about a guy who's murdered someone in the first 10 mins!?

Plague of the Zombies

Loved the hell out of this - Andre Morell is the man. Fantastic presentation - easily one of my best BD buys in a long time. Much to my regret, I left this on the "to watch later" pile much longer than I should have done.

The Dark Knight Rises

Lousy effort, particularly after The Dark Knight. It does not help when your main lead disappears for nearly half the film, and most of the dependable supporting characters - Alfred, Jim Gordon and Lucius - are barely cameos. Anne Hathaway and Joseph Gordon-Levitt were good additions though. The Bat might be a cool gimmick, but it does not bail out the lack of gravitas in this.

But the film revolved around Bane, and it just did not work for me. It's not so much Tom Hardy's performance - he is limited somewhat by his mask. But the voice - the voice! Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear. The voice was critical in this and it was a complete disaster - it just did not marry with Bane's actions. This was a kind, elderly grandpa voice, the sort that would say "could you please pass me my werthers originals?" The gravelly, broken voice from the trailer seemed more apt. And the first fight between Bane and Batman was not a fight - it was a wretched rehearsal. There was no energy at all from anyone.

The occupation just seemed a plot point for the sake of it - I just did not buy this whole "for there to be despair, there must be hope". It was sketchy, ill-defined and there was no real sense of menace - nothing like Heath's Joker. And the ending - don't get me started. To accept an ending like that, there must be a reasonable chance of escape. Very poor.

I thought the ending was a little like the one for Inception, which can be interpreted different ways. You can either surmise he survived the explosion and the scene in Italy was real, or it was wishful thinking on Alfred's part, seeing what he wanted to see.

I had wondered that as well - the open ending. But what undermines that for me is the scene immediately before Italy - where Lucius is talking to the techs and asking about software upgrades, which is strongly suggestive of a certain outcome.

The happy ending was a sop to the fans - if Nolan wanted to give it, then fine, but it needed to be more plausible than it was.

If only they hadn't actually shown what Alfred was looking at :doh: . . .

Yes - that could have worked too. If they had just shown Alfred with a smile, and not shown what he was looking that, that would have been the perfect open to interpretation ending. His grief may have distorted his vision. But by showing what he did, Nolan allows the possibility to exist - very bad indeed.

Edit- by the way, which icon is for spoiler tags; I cannot find it.

Yes!

I thought it was important to show what Alfred sees so Bruce's narrative arc either finishes in the grounds of Wayne Manor or happily married with children – I don't think either are poor decisions and, with both as possibilities, you can choose which one is the most probable.

As for spoiler tags, there isn't an icon – it's more complicated than that! Use this, only without the space before the last ].

[spoiler=what the spoiler refers to]The spoiler itself[/spoiler ]

It's a great happy ending even without the ambiguity although it doesn't really work on account of Bruce Wayne's international playboy megastatus. Too much suspension of disbelief to imagine he'd go unnoticed.

Many thanks, Nos.

Personally, I did like the last shot of the cave and the person who found it. That for me was as close to a happy ending as it got - Batman is a legend and he does not have to belong particularly to any one person. The silent guardian and watchful protector may live to fight another day.

Another slight niggle about the last Italy scene - Alfred should have ordered another fermet branca as he did previously!

...but why did they have to name him as Robin, when he's clearly meant to represent the continuation of the Batman legend - which is he, Batman or Robin, make yer mind up Nolan :doh: . . . ?

To be fair though, in the comics there are times when Robin is also a representation of the Batman legend.


The name was just a little nod, a bit of fan service as far as I was concerned.

I assumed he was going to become Nightwing!

I'll admit that I did not like learning that detail either. So I'm going to feign ignorance, put discussions about full names down to idle chit-chat, and try and salvage something from this. But yes - it's more evidence that Nolan really did not think things through.

If CN, CB and JG-L come back, then I'm not going to be happy.

Basically, he set the autopilot and then jumped out I think.

Ta folks! Here's one I forgot to stick in, you'll see why in a minute ;);)


Silent Hill: Revelation.
W H A T U T T E R S H I T E. I never learn do I? Considering the shrieking terror that the games had enduced in me, the films are a pee poor mish mashup of confusing folderol and plain crap. Am I being too technical??

AVOID imho.

Will do.

I thought the first film was utter tripe anyway.