What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[nicholasrope]

SS Experiment Camp

Another of the famous Video Nasties where female prisoners are subjected to numerous (mostly) sexual experiments. Not really a good film but a certain transplant scene isn't something you see everyday lol.

Whiplash

Miles Teller is the Jazz Band Student is selected by J.K. Simmons's to join his band. Once there he and his bandmates are pushed to the limits by their very very demanding Conductor. Simmons is absolutely incredible in this movie, his verbal tirades towards his students are something to behold and the look of fear and complete terror shown by the students are very convincing indeed. Simmons fully deserved all his awards he won for this role.

I honestly don't know if he's scarier in this or The TV show Oz.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Space Cowboys (2000)

Clint Eastwood's Space Cowboys comes with one very familiar scenario - The men on a mission movie. However this is slightly different and unique (for it's time of release) in that the men going on said mission are all old timers and the mission in question is in space.

It's great seeing Eastwood, Tommy Lee Jones, James Garner and Donald Sutherland sparring off one another as ageing former astronauts brought back into the NASA fold to retrieve a satellite before it crashes into the Earth. Naturally there's a twist and things don't go quite to plan.

Certainly Space Cowboys is a bit cliche but it uses cliche's that work rather than making the viewer cringe and melancholy, whilst in the story, is handled nicely by Eastwood the director, thus not making the movie either too jingoistic nor overly sentimental.

The film has some excellent special effects work, making you believe it was genuinely shot in space orbiting the Earth, but when you get actors of this class together along with great supports from the likes of Marcia Gay Harden, James Cromwell and William Devane there's as much to appreciate from the acting as there is from the story itself and that's what made it really entertaining from my point of view.

[MrBarlow]

The Adventures of Hercules II. 1985.

Hercules goes in search of Zeus's seven lighting bolts after they were stolen.

Lou Ferringo returns as the Greek legend Hercules, this one seems well OTT with the story line that seems to be all over the place and some scenes not making sense that it was filmed in one go and badly edited together. There is more visual effects added that it looks like more money was put into this film than the first and the last 15 minutes look to be part copied from the first and imitated King Kong, so bad its good.

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[Dave Boy]

the-return-of-count-yorga.jpg
THE RETURN OF COUNT YORGA (1971)

Count Yorga returns with his henchman Brudda to cause mayhem at an orphanage.
Some really great scenes here mostly involving the vampire women that Yorga keeps around. The scene where the women rise out of the ground is great and the best scene is when the women smash in to the house and attack those inside. The screams from the victims make this scene pretty intense.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Big Lebowski (1998)

Way back in 1998 before this classic Coen brothers film had it's release i was fortunate enough to attend a test screening.

When it came to commenting on how the film could be improved i asked for Donny (Steve Buscemi) not to be killed off as it was unnecessary and he'd been given a hard time throughout the movie by Walter (John Goodman), constantly being told to "Shut the f*ck up" when he wasn't even saying anything. It tasted a bit sour when the put upon little guy ended up dead.

Did the Coen's listen to me, did they take in my words about Donny?

Did they f*ck!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Casino Royale (2006) ★★★★

From the opening sequence and Chris Cornell's superb theme song to its final scene, I watched this with almost as much enjoyment and interest as when I watched it in the cinema 14 years ago.

Casino Royale is a tightly written and expertly directed spy thriller which benefits from the lack of an über villain – Le Chiffre is only a main player in the second act but is believable and played with real menace by Mads Mikkelsen – and the network of criminals extends to the immediate sequel. After the high-octane first act, the entire middle section centres on a game of poker which, to the spectator, isn't the most exciting of activities, yet it is a tense and gripping game, aided in no small part by the off-table events.

This is almost a Bond film for people who don’t generally like Bond films – I suspect it was subconsciously influenced by the Bourne movies which arguably breathed life into the dying espionage action genre – and is perhaps the reason I like it so much.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Nosferatu@Cult Labs

Casino Royale (2006) ★★★★

From the opening sequence and Chris Cornell's superb theme song to its final scene, I watched this with almost as much enjoyment and interest as when I watched it in the cinema 14 years ago.

Casino Royale is a tightly written and expertly directed spy thriller which benefits from the lack of an über villain – Le Chiffre is only a main player in the second act but is believable and played with real menace by Mads Mikkelsen – and the network of criminals extends to the immediate sequel. After the high-octane first act, the entire middle section centres on a game of poker which, to the spectator, isn't the most exciting of activities, yet it is a tense and gripping game, aided in no small part by the off-table events.

This is almost a Bond film for people who don’t generally like Bond films – I suspect it was subconsciously influenced by the Bourne movies which arguably breathed life into the dying espionage action genre – and is perhaps the reason I like it so much.

My only gripe regarding this is the final third is too long and drawn out. From the breathless excitement of the poker game (i can't believe i just typed that) we end up with what can only be described as an elongated romance. I can understand why it's there - to give the finale and betrayal more of an impact but OHMSS did the romantic angle so much better than it's done here.

Other than that it's top five in my Bond list and far superior to any of the films that followed.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Quantum of Solace (2008) ★★★

Although this has an excellent pre-credit sequence, the theme song is, putting it bluntly, godawful.

I really like the relationship between Daniel Craig's Bond and Camille (Olga Kurylenko), the film's main failing is in its villain, an ecological businessman linked to organised crime. I normally like Mathieu Amalric as an actor, but his character is so underdeveloped and dull that it's very difficult to emotionally and cognitively engaging in MI6's – and Bond's – pursuit of him.

It's a film with some really good action sequences, a fine score, and top performances from the entire cast. However, like the title, the plot is borderline incomprehensible and it's not a film which is easy to like.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

My only gripe regarding this is the final third is too long and drawn out. From the breathless excitement of the poker game (i can't believe i just typed that) we end up with what can only be described as an elongated romance. I can understand why it's there - to give the finale and betrayal more of an impact but OHMSS did the romantic angle so much better than it's done here.

Other than that it's top five in my Bond list and far superior to any of the films that followed.

I agree with everything you said here – OHMSS is my favourite and, in my opinion, the best Bond film – except I think Skyfall is the best of the Daniel Craig Bond films so far.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Skyfall (2012) ★★★★½

This might be the best Bond movie, though I'm not sure whether I am here ready to remove On Her Majesty's Secret Service from the top spot yet.

With this film, Sam Mendes shows he's more than an arthouse director, that someone capable of perfectly marrying drama and action with some highly enjoyable and impressive action set pieces

It's also a film where Daniel Craig seems completely at ease as James Bond, moreso than in Casino Royale or Quantum of Solace, and his interactions with Javier Bardem's Silva show a wry humour masking a menace which is always lurking just beneath the surface. I think Bardem is terrific in this, playing a character with real depth, cunning and thread mixed with playfulness. It's a film which uses nostalgia to good effect to bring the past and present together in a film which is more fun than the previous two Bond films.

As the action moves around and the story develops to reveal more of James Bond's past, the film really holds your attention. The present is just as interesting because of characters like Naomie Harris's Moneypenny Ralph Fiennes ' Mallory, and Ben Wishaw's Q, all great additions to the MI6 team.

Once we reach the titular location for the final act, the film takes a more melancholic turn making it, and Bond, more emotionally engaging and interesting.