What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[SymbioticFunction]

The Reef Stalked. Disappointing follow-up to the best non-Jaws shark movie (don't be fooled by 2010 The Reef film's low 5.8/10 imdb score). The sequel's not a bad film as such, it's just nothing particularly special that makes you want to own a permanent copy. Almost all of the original looked like genuine footage whereas the sequel seems much more obviously cut and paste. In this rather dodgy genre, it's still one of the better ones but very disappointing considering it's by the same director/writer. To just rent it would be my advice. btw If you have a phobia of sharks (who doesn't?), the original film is pretty damn scary.

[MrBarlow]

Woyzeck. 1979.

Franz Worzeck is a soldier that slowly goes towards a downhill slope of paranoia.

Another Klaus/Werner collaboration movie that started a week after finishing Nosferatu that the pair contributed exhaustion to the actor's performance which is one of his decent performances without going nuts...except towards the end. Based on a stage play that may have been difficult to achieve but Werner was able to capture and use real locations in and around the town of Telc. This is certainly intense and very much dramatic but at the same time this may not be for everyone.

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[MrBarlow]

One False Move. 1992.

Three people on the run from L.A to Arkansas, two detectives team with a small town Sheriff in Star City to apprehend them. When the Sheriff knows one of the suspects he has to put professional duties above personnel relations.

I saw the trailer for this back in the 90s but never managed to get a hold of it, 30 years later, finally found it and this was a great tense thriller, Billy Bob Thornton (co-writer) Cynda Williams and Michael Beach play the three fugitives while Jim Metzler and Earl Billings play the two L.A Detectives hunting the trio. Bill Paxton plays the small town Sheriff who joins the hunt. From start to finish this was a film that certainly jumps straight into the story, certainly worth the watch.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Libertine (1968)

Catherine Spaak plays Mimi, a young widow who discovers her deceased husband had a secret apartment where he played out his sexual fantasies. Frustrated both sexually and mentally Mimi goes on a quest to explore her desires and sexuality.

An Italian sex comedy that doesn't quite play out like you may imagine. I haven't seen many Italian sex comedies in the past, the ones i have seen mainly star Edwige Fenech and were bawdy romps along the lines of the British 'Confessions' series, however The Libertine is nothing of the sort.

The comedy is quite subtle and the themes of sex and sexuality are handled with sophistication in it's portrayal of a young woman who becomes very quickly sexually liberated and in control of her situations. Early on in the film one of her partners apologises for seducing her and she replies "You didn't seduce me, i seduced you" which was definitely the case.

Anyone expecting rampant nudity will be disappointed. There is some but not until deep into the film and in a way it isn't needed. Spaak as Mimi is naturally sexy and extremely cute and doesn't need to be naked, although the final scene of her practically naked riding her boyfriend round the apartment like a horse is pretty memorable.

The look of the film reminded me of Petri's 1965 film The 10th Victim so stylish it was with it's decor and costumes and it became easy to simply wallow in the elegant chicness of the film rather than examine it's sexual politics and how sex casually blends with violence which will probably be seen as problematic nowadays. There was a subtlety to it that i wouldn't expect from Pasquale Festa Campanile, who also directed the infamous Hitch-Hike (1977)

I really enjoyed The Libertine as a slice of sexy fun and as far as Eurotica (Is that a word?) goes was far more satisfying than anything certain French or Spanish directors churned out on an almost weekly basis.

Watched via the tasty Blu-ray from Nucleus Films.

[MrBarlow]

The Boondock Saints II: All Saints Day. 2009.

Connor and Murphy MacManus living the quiet life in Ireland, when their beloved priest is killed in New York, they go back to settle the score.

Norman Reedus and Sean Patrick Flannery return as the two preaching gun tooting brothers that have ideas that never work but their execution style does come to their advantage, along with their Da Billy Connolly.

Julie Benz stars as the detective on their case after the killing, half the time it's like she is speaking with a southern accent then goes to speaking with a Irish accent then back to southern, was the makers trying to make up their minds how she should talk?

This did have the laughs and the slow motion shootouts and Clifton Collins Jr. as their new sidekick and a small appearance by Peter Fonda but seemed to lack proper acting as some do try to over act others even Judd Nelson as the main gangster wasn't in his best role.

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[MrBarlow]

Eyes Wide Shut. 1999.

After his wife admits to having sexual fantasies, a New York doctor embarks on a night of bizarre odyssey which leads him to a house of a sex orgy and the problems afterwards.

Stanley Kubrick's vision of a novella which sees Tom Cruise going down a road of sexual subconscious with fantasies and fear and seeing a man's nightmare can be like of his wife admitting to wanting to sleep with another man and embarking on a mission to test his loyalty to his wife.

Nicole Kidman stars as the loving wife who may not be loving as such, her screen time is limited as she appears at the beginning and towards the final act and setting things up to be the prim and proper housewife and mother she should really be.

Kubrick's direction has always been something that people do talk about and how a perfectionist he actually is when making a film and this is outstanding with the cinematography and the use of lights and colour at the mansion, with a eerie background score by Jocelyn Pook at the masked ball.

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Have a good Monday peeps, keep smiling

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Vengeance of Fu Manchu (1967)

Christopher Lee returns in his third outing as the dastardly crime lord Fu Manchu once again out to bring about the downfall of his nemesis, Scotland Yard's Neyland Smith (Douglas Wilmer).

Filmed in Hong Kong at the Shaw Brothers studio this feels slightly more authentic than the first two films. Produced again under the gaze of Harry Alan Towers this suffers once again because there are too many players involved. Towers sought funding from everywhere especially Germany so the film features actors from these countries who all require lengthy screen time and in a film that lasts all of ninety one minutes it tends to take away from Lee and Wilmer's rivalry with both actors not really having an awful lot to do, especially in the case of Wilmer who also plays a non-speaking doppelganger of himself for large swathes of his screen time.

I do think this was an improvement on 1966's The Brides of Fu Manchu which felt largely like a remake of the first film. At least this tries to do something slightly different.

The extras on the Indicator Blu-ray are excellent and feature historian and author Jonathan Rigby heavily as he contributes a commentary track with Kevin Lyons (Which i plan to listen to this week) and an informative fifty minute documentary / analysis by Rigby of Christopher Lee's early acting career up to and including the Fu Manchu series.

[trebor8273]

Werewolf Larry comes back from the dead and looks for a cure for his condition finding the monster on his travels. Not as good as the previous movies a tad slow and really all the monsters do when they do fight his push each other a little and jump around. Chaney is back as the Wolfman but Lugosi who doesn't even get top billing now plays the creature a role he originally turned down.


Going too watch the 3 hour version of Needful things tonight, anyone seen it?

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by trebor8273

Werewolf Larry comes back from the dead and looks for a cure for his condition finding the monster on his travels. Not as good as the previous movies a tad slow and really all the monsters do when they do fight his push each other a little and jump around. Chaney is back as the Wolfman but Lugosi who doesn't even get top billing now plays the creature a role he originally turned down.


Going too watch the 3 hour version of Needful things tonight, anyone seen it?

How did you manage to get a hold of the 3 hour version? You gotta let us know how this Treb

[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

How did you manage to get a hold of the 3 hour version? You gotta let us know how this Treb

I'll just say by other means , was a German digibook blu ray released with that version but it's long out of print.