I'm sorry that I've asked every person who talks about their copy, but what card did you get?

3 viewings so far over Easter

Red Road - one I missed and was glad to get the blu for 6 quid in HMVz last knockings. I'm glad I did its excellent, even if it makes my native Glasgow look like an ante chamber of hell. Actings great across the board and I love the directors visual eye - that's Fish Tank added to the ever lengthening Criterion wish list.

Got Zombieland in Poundland (indistinguishable!). Never seen this either. Not really my bag but had its moments. Some of the writing in the VoiceOver made me cringe but I don't think script polishing was high on the agenda here. File under OK timewaster. Edit - how could I not mention BMs cameo - a keeper for that alone.

Session 9 - old fav, not seen for about 10 years. Holds up really well, but you have the nagging feeling with a little more work on the dialogue/characterisation/plotting it could have been a masterpiece. Never has a movies location carried so much weight - that place is terrifying. Some great shudders in here - deserves a blu ray so we can see into those shadowy corners...

:lol:

Agreed on all three of those. I love those two Andrea Arnold films, yet to see her Wuthering Heights. I too found the Zombieland narration let the side down, far too smugly hip / Americanly sentimental for my taste . . .

Compliance

Brilliantly maddening, 'based on true events' tale of a prank caller, posing as a cop, who convinced employers to humiliate employees he said were stealing from them. As an examination of how blindly we comply with those in perceived power, I found it pretty compelling. You find yourself asking ‘what would I do in this situation?’ Sadly I think I would be manipulated in much the same way – the merest whiff of authority and I become a submissive wuss! :lol: The superb performance of Ann Dowd as the wholly manipulated employer helps to sell the premise, although believability is stretched to breaking point well before the end. The Innkeepers Pat Healy is also fantastic as the prank caller, milking the audience hatred of his character for all it’s worth! Well worth seeking out.

Well that's what it's all about. Personally I wouldn't. But then I already manage a large team of staff, many of whom handle cash, so it's easy to imagine that situation taking place and just as easy to know I would have bluntly told them to come in and deal with it themselves if there's criminal implication involved, or no deal. I think at most it would result in the staff member being taken aside and questioned, but nothing else. I think that's why I found it so immensely frustrating (and fascinating).

Frustrating and fascinating is right! Mad to think the same prank was carried out over 70 times across America :eek: Wikepedia tells me the incident was also dramatised in Law & Order, with Robin Williams playing the prank caller . . .

Yeah, I read about the L&O episode. Never watched it, but could be a fun one to check out. I can imagine Robin Williams doing very well in that, as the guy can do creepy.

I also looked up the real-life case afterwards, as at the time I thought "It can't have gone that far in real life". But yes, yes it did. Astounding.

Knightriders

Watched Who Framed Roger Rabbit blu last night. Not seen it in about fifteen years and thoroughly enjoyed it. Think a lot if it went over my head last time I seen it. So great film. As a blu ray however it's not the best. The picture in darker scenes is awful with the contrast just collapsing. And the weirdest thing is going on with the surround track which is supposed to be a 5.1 mix but actually plays as a 7.1mix. If anyone else has it and watches it through a surround sound setup let me know if you get the same thing?

last nights viewings, really disliked dead and breakfast the reviews on the back, people had to be watching a different movie than me it was just awful and painful too watch and comparing it to shaun of the dead:crazy:

First half of the afternoon was spent in front of Livid (U.K. blu-ray). I saw this when it was on at the pictures last year and really liked it. I see no reason to change my view after rewatching it at home. Now I am off into the snow to see if I can find something to watch later this evening.

Casualties Of War (1989)
Brian De Palma Vietnam War film, based on a true story from 1966.

I have the Steelbook and will report back on the soundtrack when I've seen it, probably this weekend.

Appreciated. It's weird. My amp even says 5.1 on the display but is actually putting out full 7.1 dts.

The final film for today was A little bit zombie which is an American comedy. Unfortunately theres nothing here for anybody over the age of 15. A comedy with no jokes. Avoid.

The Criminals (1976)

Another Shaw Brothers anthology film.

But where Return of the Dead (1979) actually resembled a HK version of Tales from the Crypt,this one resembles a HK version of Crime Suspenstories or Shock Suspenstories... ;)

I especially enjoyed the first two tales (the first one foreshadowing more modern Cat III crime thrillers) but the last one wasn't bad either (the ending could have been better imho).

So far I've really enjoyed these Shaw anthology films so I'll have to seek out more. :)

The Criminals

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It ain't horror, but damn it's good!

A faithful adaptation of Miller's graphic novel DC hit it off with this animation.:cool:

Grave Encounters
Grave Encounters 2

Another mixed bag this weekend:
'Bay of Blood'. My first Bava, won't be my last. Really enjoyed it, though I'm not sure about the final scene - wtf?

'V/H/S'. Total garbage. Nothing to like here. Very disappointing.

'A Lonely Place to Die'. Outstanding first hour, let down slightly by the last half hour. Top notch PQ, and the AQ was also great - very clear dialogue etc. Was the first BD I've watched on my new player, and I've turned the Dynamic Range Control on, which apparently makes low-level audio more audible. No more constant changing of the volume, hopefully.

I'm thinking 'Halloween 3' for tonight.

HOME MOVIE - 'Found Footage' type affairs aren't usually my bag, but I thought this was quite good. A camcorder charts the violent breakdown of a young family. The initially likeable parents are in fact raging narcissists, so no wonder their objectified, silent children go on a murderous rampage. Some scenes manage to be both funny and harrowing - the scene at the thanksgiving dinner table, for example. Other aspects stretch credulity - the psychiatrist mother conflates her familial and professional roles in order to treat her children medically, whereas no-one in that position would take such an unsophisticated approach. Still, pretty disturbing viewing on the whole.

THE PSYCHO LOVER - Gonzo trash from yesteryear which could only come from SWV. A Spock-like psychiatrist with a ridiculous car is on the tail of a serial rapist whilst conducting an extra-marital affair and harbouring a hidden agenda of his own. It swerves from sickly exploitation to a weird riff on the Manchurian Candidate and ends in death by television. Quite an oddity.

DEADLY WEAPONS - More SWV, more oddity. Chesty Morgan wants to kill the mobsters who double crossed her boyfriend with her grotesquelly outsized breasts. I think that's all there is to say really, apart from, if you're familiar with the work of Doris Wishman, you'll know what to expect - a feverish collage of off-kilter angles, shots of feet, strange mind games issuing from paintings and decorations... don't press play if in doubt of own sanity.

Sounds interesting. I'm usually quite suspicious of found footage films, but they still wield the odd gem. I saw a film not so long ago called Exhibit A, which sounds familiar in so far as the horror derives from the disintegration of the family unit - in that instance it's a British family under the microscope. I sought it out after reading a glowing recommendation on Stephen Thrower's blog - a critic I very much respect. But I didn't like it much, probably for the painfully accurate home-truths the film often represents which grated on me no end - the bleak, British suburban lifestyle, embarrassing 'crap dad' and irritating teenage son. Not a bad idea, but too much company spent in the time of people that I had no a shred of interest in.

Recent viewings:

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I had a similar experience with 'Exhibit A', and came to it via the same route for the same reasons. Maybe I'll give it another go in the wake of 'Home Movie', although the latter is stronger as a piece of grotesque, not particularly realistic horror.

BEYOND THE BLACK RAINBOW! Amazing film, I thought... should be better known.

yesterdays viewings. already watched black sunday when i first got blu ray so got around to watching i vampiri

Django, Prepare a Coffin.

As much as I love the original, I've hardly seen any of the number of Django influenced knock-offs. And despite expecting little, this particular one wasn't bad at all. Based as a prequel to the original, Django is robbed and shot by bandits, his wife killed in the process. Years later our hero works as a hangman, secretly faking their deaths in order to create a gang of his own in order to reap revenge.

Terrence Hill (My Name is Nobody/Trinity) replaces Franco Nero (who was initially cast, but dropped out due to other commitments) and holds his own as the mysterious man in black. He also bears a striking resemblance to Nero, which helped him land the role.

It's not as good as the original of course, but the pacing is fun and there's two main bad guys that old Django has to contend with - a corrupt politician (Horst Frank) and a shady gang leader (George Eastman) - both of whom make worthy foes. Great music too, courtesy of Gianfranco Reverberi and Gian Piero Reverberi.

As I say, I've little basis for comparison, but I can see this being one of the better 'Django' films.

Me too. I loved it, and am looking forward to giving it a re-watch in the near future.

Schutzengel
 

This afternoon I watched German action thriller Schutzengel (Guardian Angel) which is about a former soldier not working as a police witness protection officer who becomes emotionally attached to his latest "subject" a 14 year old girl who witnessed the murder of her friend by a prominent German industrialist/arms dealer. Despite being a German production it is very "American" but don't let that put you off. This is a superbly made and entertaining action film. Brilliant. Recommended. The German blu-ray has English subtitles.

Theres a found footage film out there somewhere called HATE CRIME which is nigh impossible to find even online. It was shown at Grimm up north and even one of the organisers there thought it 'went to far'. Its possibly one of the grimmest nastiest and near the knuckle found footage movies ever (certainly it gives even mordem a run for its money for sheer nastiness) Basically its a bunch of neo-nazi skinheads performing a home invasion on a middle-class jewish family. Its refuses to pull any punches, this means however it dosent seem to be getting picked up any time soon.

"HATE CRIME" Official Horror Movie Trailer 2012 [ Found Footage Home Invasion ] [HD] - YouTube

Turtles are surprisingly fast swimmers.
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A bored housewife, envious of her charismatic friend and tired of feeling ordinary becomes a spy to spice up her life.

Quirky is as good a word as any to describe this movie. It put a big smile on my face, with bizarre and silly humour and a great central performance. I loved it!

Ill Manors....after 20 minutes of watching this I thought what a load of !$%. But I stuck with it and and found it very intense and thought provoking.

Django Unchained.....very enjoyable western from Tarantino. Enjoyed that they used the original song in the movie. Also Is there anyone more annoying than Samuel L Jackson? He is great at making people hate his charachters.

Justin bieber?? I actually don't find Jackson annoying I like his acting style

I went to the Hyper Japan festival here in London last year, and the director was there in interview. Haven't seen the film yet, but they showed a clip from it.

Sounds horrible, couldn't be doing with that.

Its nightmarish, but in justification its a lot more plausible as a 'found footage' film than any other I have seen, mainly because it totally refuses to self censor. Its not for all tastes certainly.

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Got this for 99p, watching it right now and already highly reccomended! It has the terrific soundtrack included!

Watched The Raid this morning. Good grief I enjoyed that. One of the few so called non stop action movies I've seen that actually lived up to the description. I a word awesome!

The Fifth Element (1997)

Been a few years since I've seen this and now I understand why! Anything that has Jean-Paul Gaultier in the credits and you know your gonna get stripped sailor suits and tight shorts! :mmph:

I love it!:pound:

Finished HARDER THEY COME.

Sheer genius, the low budget verite style of filmmmaking gives the criminal underbelly of jamaica a real documentary feel, I espcially liked the twist where the main characters music gets a jolt of popularity once he becomes an outlaw.

after that I watched...

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Dean Cain in good film shocker! :eek:

He plays a white collar worker in over his head after ripping off an especially dangerous crook (voiced by Danny trejo). The film is set almost entirely in Cains car with dialouge over mobile phone as he drives about lost somewhere between california and nevada, his carefully developed plan slowly unravelling before him. Its 80 minutes and engaging for all of it, really keeping the suspense going. Its dirt cheap to pick up as well so i'd highly reccomend giving this one a try.

Just too camp for me!