What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

The Dark Tower (2017) ★

The last Gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has been locked in an eternal battle with Walter O’Dim, also known as the Man in Black, determined to prevent him from toppling the Dark Tower, which holds the universe together. With the fate of the worlds at stake, good and evil will collide in the ultimate battle as only Roland can defend the Tower from the Man in Black.

How is it possible for a film about a dimension hopping warlock, a knight-like sharpshooter, and a boy with powerful psychic powers be so boring? There is no sense of fun, joy, or excitement, and it is so incredibly rushed that it seems to finish before important plot points have been developed.

It's an absolute clunker and a waste of Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey's acting talents.

[Dave Boy]

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TROUBLE IN STORE (1953)

Norman works as a storeman in a big department store where he has fallen head over heels in love with saleswoman Sally. After a series of misshapes where he keeps getting fired, Norman stumbles across a plot to rob the store on sales day..
Another great fun Norman Wisdom film which was a box office smash in 1953.

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HANG 'EM HIGH (1968)

Clint's first American western movie after the 'Dollars' films.
Enjoyable movie with stand out scenes such as the lynching and the mass hanging scaffold. I was always surprised that the movie is left open ended with two of the lynch mob still to be tracked down.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Atonement (2007) ★★★★

As a 13-year-old, fledgling writer Briony Tallis irrevocably changes the course of several lives when she accuses her older sister’s lover of a crime he did not commit.

I haven't read Ian McEwan's book on which this is based so I'm able to formulate an opinion on this as a film rather than an adaptation of a celebrated novel.

With an absolutely stunning cast including a young Saoirse Ronan, Keira Knightley, James McAvoy, Benedict Cumberbatch, Gina McKee, Juno Temple, Daniel Mays, Brenda Blethyn, and Vanessa Redgrave, Joe Wright has no shortage of talent to direct and he does so with aplomb.

With the central message of the devastating impact of an outrageous childhood falsehood, this is a clever and emotionally engaging look at correspondence, writing, and truth.

The film is masterfully directed by Wright, particularly noteworthy is the bravura sequence at Dunkirk, an astonishing piece of cinema with a lengthy single shot passage taking in the scale of the evacuation and the massive toll of warfare on people, animals, and machinery.

All the characters are fully fleshed out by the great cast, Saoirse Ronan and (later) Romola Garai bring different aspects of Bryony to the screen, James McAvoy builds on the great performance in The Last King of Scotland

Considering this is a film about how a misunderstanding and subsequent lie ruins three lives, it's a surprisingly enjoyable film to watch and is probably even better than Wright's Pride and Prejudice (2005), and easily the equal of Hanna (2011), Anna Karenina (2012) and Darkest Hour (2017); it's a story which is both epic and intimate.

[nicholasrope]

House III: The Horror Show

Detective Lance Henriksen finally apprehends "Meat Cleaver Max" (Brion James) and watches the electric chair execution from the audience. But killing Max Jenke only elevated him to another level of reality as he is able to terrorize the family using electricity.

Called The Horror Show in America but given the House name in the UK, it's not a bad little Horror film with some nice gory scenes.

The World Is Not Enough

Pierce Brosnan is back as Bond, this time he's protecting the daughter of a murdered Oil Tycoon who was killed by Robert Carlyle. It's not a bad film but I found it to drag bit.

Shotgun

One of PM Entertainment Group's earlier efforts in which 2 Detectives go on the hunt of a S&M loving criminal who likes beating up Prostitutes however after he kills the sister of one of the detectives, all hell breaks loose.

This isn't one of PM's best efforts but you could see signs of what they would be capable off in their little niche market of early to mid 90's low budget Action films.

[MrBarlow]

Frogs. 1972.

At a isolated island a group of people gather for the July 4th celebration and a birthday only to fall fowl of killer amphibians and reptiles.

One question, why was this called Frogs? it should be attack of the amphibians not unless the Frogs are the leaders of the pack as it contains Spiders, Lizards and even a small flock of birds, even leeches manage to get a bite out of someone. Ray Milland plays the grumpy old geezer who refuses to let nature's swamp creatures take over, Sam Elliott plays the reluctant hero in one of his earliest roles as the photographer who is launched in to the middle of a quarreling family. It does have the premise of being a good horror film and some scenes built up well to the tension, it's more cinematic chiller than anything else, unless you are afraid of the above species then worth a watch for the scares.

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[Deadite]

Rampage. The Rock gets out-roided by his albino ape mate, when a dodgy serum crash-lands back on earth after an odd space-station intro to the film. Sadly, the gorilla isn't the only one affected. A wolf and croc also get a dose and start chomping down on stuff. Your typical giant monster Rock vehicle. Can't remember much about it already except that Jeffrey Dean Morgan looked a bit skinny in a supporting role.

Galaxy of Terror. A Roger Corman produced special, with Jodie from Happy Days and Freddie Kruger! Starts and ends with some nonsense mumbo-jumbo but manages to cram a decent flick with some imaginative deaths in-between. Jodie's death scene being a stand-out. Zalman King (of dodgy soft-core fame) manages to depict a quiet psycho quite convincingly, although there's enough subtext to the performance that I wonder exactly what his history with the erstwhile 'hero' of the film is. Anyway, decent low-budget stuff.

Oh,

[MrBarlow]

Tenebre. 1982.

A American novelist promoting his new book Tenebre in Rome finds those around him being killed by a unknown stalker.

One of Argento's best films that has it's usual P.O.V. killers where we only see the hands, an assortment of good cast members, Anthony Franciosa as novelist Peter Neal who finds out people murdered with pages of his new book stuffed in their mouth. John Saxon plays Bullmer who is the agent with a new hat. Giullano Gemma and Carola Stagnaro play the detectives on the case who seem to have no clue who the perpetrator is, no film is complete with out Daria Nicolodi who is left screaming at the end.

With Dario you know there will be plot twists, imaginative ways for people to die, great music and brilliant cinematography which we see used when Tilde is home and most talked sequence with the exterior of the building that captures built in suspense and tension throughout the movie.

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[Nostalgic]

On the back of the Dr Sleep blu ray is a quote that says "The Best Horror of the Year" (Entertainment Focus).

I quite liked the book, having never liked the shining in any form (Book, Kubrik movie, mini series, audio book, boy did I try!!), but the film was merely ok.

Ewan MaGregor is the grown up Danny Torrance (inexplicably trim & good looking for a drunk & able to just show up in a town & blag a job & a house in 5 mins in a way that would make Frank Capra proud).

Psychic vampires, psychic kids, lots of ponderings on being old as is King's function in his twilight years, but really it's just so DAMN LONG!!!!!!

Theatrical cut runs 152 mins, "director's cut" runs 180. I went with theatrical & have no intention of watching a longer version.
There is an art in concise storytelling, both in film and literature. Please, just cut the fat & make these things shorter. Re-Animator, Night of the Living Dead, both around the 90 minute mark. I don't see many people remembering Dr Sleep beyond next year.

3/10

[nicholasrope]

The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe

During WWII, 4 children are sent to live in the Countryside, where they find a wardrobe which transports them to the fantasy land of Narnia where they have to help overthrow the tyrannical White Witch.

I completely forgot that this film existed until I saw it during a shopping spree in CEX and whilst a tad overlong for my liking, it's still a decent and entertaining watch. Also it's the 1st part of what has been a rather strange series and which most people were bothered about this film but were not interested in the other films, note even Prince Caspian (Which was the next film in the series)

Brain Damage

Man finds strange alien creature which makes him hallucinate and also requires human brains.

I remember seeing the VHS cover back in 88 and thought that it would be a nasty/gory serious Horror film and I picked up the DVD ages ago but kept it on the shelve and after a poster watched the film, I took the plunge, it ain't bad, not exactly what I thought it would have been back in the day but it has some nice gore and some comedic moments.

Team America: World Police

Decent enough no-brainer movie in which the creators of South Park create a Politically Incorrect Puppet film about a American Special Force Group that takes it upon themselves to police the world but end up annoying everybody.

Some decent songs and has one of the best love scenes also lol.

[Demoncrat]

Munafik 2

So a friend comes round with some of the films he bought whilst working in Indonesia.
This one turned into a highly entertaining evening as it turned out to be a CAM
So the subtitles were only visible for parts of it. Basically a Muslim horror flick, replacing yer old Oirish priest with their equivalent (Imam?). Decent budget, so the set pieces were quite impressive. Religion does play quite a part in it unsurprisingly.



Modus Anomali (Joko Anwar)

Another Indo flick. Basically a "revenge" film, it starts with a rather lengthy outdoor chase sequence, then turns on a dime as the protagonist reaches civillisation. An odd wee thing, this time dubbed, which did help somewhat. Decent ending. Would watch another of his films certainly.


Under Siege

The last time Busey was sane on screen???
A fun time was had perusing the Seagal in whites Evil bugger Tommy Lee Jones is pissed off, so he steals a boat in order to make a point. Sadly for him, the human ponytail is locked in the brig. Fun romp, not as outright insane as the sequel but not very grounded in reality either. Won an Oscar for sound design??? Hmmm.