December 22nd
 

The Doll of Satan (1969)

More Italian madness from 88 Films but at least this one looks glorious in HD.

A film with well worn plot points - a Tara Reid look-a-like returns to her ancestral castle for the reading of a will where she'll get the castle for herself which naturally annoys her other relatives who tell her the castle is haunted and get her to put it on the market at a ridiculously low price which she doesn't want to do...then things turn creepy.

La Bambola di Satana is a confused and confusing film. Shot at the arse end of the Gothic horror period as the giallo trend was really taking off, The Doll of Satan tries to combine the two and it works. In a fashion.

To me this was reminiscent of the British chiller Haunted House of Horror from the same year in that we see modern dress and styles playing out in a Gothic setting, although the various scenes set in a bar with dancing, sixties style, totally remove any possible tension build up in the creepy castle and it feels more clunky than swinging sixties chic.

Atmosphere wise, director Ferruccio Casapinta seems like he's trying to ape Bava but with little success as there is barely any atmosphere until Tara has a couple of erotic dream like encounters with a ghostly figure and we also have a black gloved menace lurking around together with a torture chamber finale.

If it sounds good prepare to be disappointed as The Doll of Satan is overall a bit of a mess with several mainly unfocused ideas that fail to gel although there are some fun scenes. However it is perfectly watchable for the discerning Italian horror connoisseur even if you are hardly likely to be on the edge of your seat.

The Matrix: Resurrections (Lana Wachowski)

Liked the bit on the train. The rest outdoes that Ferrell sketch for sheer hilarity. WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY??????????????? ?
Avoid.

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SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME

By far the best of the Tom Holland Spider-Man movies.
This is great stuff all round. I managed to avoid most of the spoilers so the whole movie was a most enjoyable time.
It's certainly put the MCU back on top now and shows they can still do it if they try.

Most reviews I’ve read so far haven’t been that good .
Critics and general public.

Bah! Humbug!!

There is only one film that I can watch that enables me to live with all the hypocrisy and fake bonhomie that pervades most people at this time of year

Snapshot

Australian Film in which a struggling Hairdresser becomes a Model but ends up being stalked. It's not bad but not essential viewing.

Phantom Of The Mall

Phantom Of The Opera based Film but set in a Shopping Mall where a Teen who was presumed dead after a fire watches over his ex-girlfriend. As someone likes 80's/90's Slasher Movies, I found this to be rather entertaining (Even though I feel that the makers may have had illusions of grander) TBH, I don't recall seeing it in my Video Shops back in the day as I'm pretty sure that I would have picked up on it and I don't recall the cover (Keep on thinking off the Robert England Phantom Of The Opera cover)

The Wraith

Crazy premise which sees a mysterious Driver (From Outer Space) challenge a gang of youths who force people to race them. Charlie Sheen stars in what I think is a futuristic setting with some crazy characters. It's one of those Films that shouldn't work but boy it does. Certainly gives early Fast And Furious vibes (Yes I know that this was out 15 years before)

Showdown In Little Tokyo

One of my faves which sees mismatched Cops Dolph Lundgren and Brandon Lee team up to take down The Yakuza lead by Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa, who excels with his facial expressions and portrayal of nastiness. It's also action packed and fast paced (Clocking in at 76 minutes)

Malignant. A young woman finds herself somehow psychically linked to the crazed killer that murdered her abusive boyfriend and is now targeting others - but is the killer closer than she thinks? This 2021 horror from James Wan has been somewhat divisive, with some hating the nutso twist and descent into full-on 80s movie comedy horror zaniness, and others loving it. I enjoyed it, though I would argue it could have been a little campier in the first half, and the cast are a little nondescript (oh modern cinema), lacking the kind of relish an actual 80s movie cast would have delivered in a film like this. :xmastongue:

Spoilers alert!!!
 

No Time To Die (2021)

Surprisingly i really enjoyed this on first viewing, a lot more than i did my respective first watches of the previous four Daniel Craig Bond outings.

I had heard that Rani Malek's villain Safin was a weak link so my expectations were low but i thought he was okay and actually better than Blofeld in this series. Meanwhile the action sequences were lengthy, superbly crafted and exciting.

Yes, it's a little too long and as with Spectre the pace lags a bit following the half way point until the final forty minutes but on the whole i thought this a well made and very enjoyable way to bring an end to Craig's tenure.

Daniel Craig isn't my favourite Bond and i've taken my time to warm to him but the run of four Bond films watched in the run up to this finale has made me appreciate him more even if i don't particularly agree with the direction the series took nor his emotional baggage that has become even more apparent as the series progressed.

Finally even though i am 100% of the opinion that James Bond should never die it seemed right for Craig's incarnation and was thankful that it only showed M (Ralph Fiennes) toast Bond's whisky glass at the finale because to see Moneypenny, Tanner and Q also do it might have brought a tear to my eye which would have been bloody annoying.

Glad you liked it Dem. I thought it was an excellent addition to the franchise.

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Thanks. I look at it as a five film take on Bond based on and inspired by one Fleming novel. I would like them to bring a bit of fun back to the franchise with the next Bond though.

Not saying i want to see Blofeld in his wheelchair being dropped down a chimney from a helicopter but yeah, a little more like old school Bond.

It was an enjoyable way to see out Boxing Day all the same.