Cult Labs - What Films Have You Seen Recently?

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CARTER

Carter is the latest action extravaganza from Jeong Byeong-Gil, the lunatic behind 2017’s The Villainess. And if you thought that film teetered on the edge of insanity, then Carter is a freefall descent down the abyss.

Carter can be somewhat described as Crank meets Resident Evil meets The Bourne Identity meets John Wick meets Mad Max: Fury Road meets every Steven Seagal film meets Rope. And this is Carter’s blessing and curse. Using a lot of digital trickery, Carter is one long tracking shot that flies above the action, swoops between combatants, and dives under moving vehicles.

As you may have noticed from the logline, Carter is not especially focused on plotting. Really, the plot is an excuse for the jaw-dropping action that barely lets up. The film is constantly dialled to 11, captured by a swirling camera, and may turn you off. If you anyways susceptible to motion sickness, Carter will turn your living room into a vomitorium.

However, where moronic trash like Fast and Furious tries to use modern technology to cram cartoons into an established reality, Carter, like Michael Bay’s Ambulance, uses modern filmmaking to erode reality into a surreal facsimile. Ambulance does it much better, as Carter suffers from a budget much lower than its ambitions. It’s easy to spot all the digital tape, although I did stop paying heed after about 30 minutes. The one-shot approach means the many stabbings uses distracting digital blood, and the CGI helicopters stand out like the average Marvel rubbish.

However, Carter pushes further into surrealism than Ambulance does. Carter is what Fast and Furious pretends to be. This is a film with exploding teeth, bodies flying 50 feet in the air and crashing into buses, goons swinging from helicopters, and waterfalls of zombies. Sometimes, even the backgrounds become deliberately fake. One scene had a revelation, and all the surrounding colour seemed to slowly drain away.

The performances are another thing that makes Carter stand out from other films. Everybody is clearly in on the joke, but nobody is going to betray the gag. Joo Won is adept at delivering many beatdowns, but displays a comedic sensibility that sells his character’s confusion. The supporting cast range from scenery chewing, to conveying enough melodrama to sell the tone. Another element I liked, and probably due to it being a Netflix production designed to appeal to non-Korean audiences too, is the use of foreign extras. These extras are even given some lines, betraying their lack of experience. It feels like a delightful late 80s Hong Kong production.

This is why I ended up loving Carter. Like those Hong Kong films, it’s a scrappy effort that uses every trick in the book to reach beyond its means. Carter is bound to delight as many as it will infuriate. I recommend watching it, because even if you end up hating it, there will be the odd moment where you can’t help but smile at the audaciousness of it all.

And that’s Carter. Maybe not as good as Jimmy, but better than Billy.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs (Post 674502)

Troll (1986)

Just noticed Cex will give me either a £13 voucher or £9 cash for the Eureka Troll / Troll 2 set.

Sayonara, Trolls.

Do I take this as a recommendation not to buy?

Sent from my SM-G780G using Tapatalk

Quote:

Originally Posted by J Harker (Post 674596)

Do I take this as a recommendation not to buy?

My copy has now gone to Cex. :lol:

For me it was a one watch experience. The documentary film was the best thing about it. I couldn't see me ever watching it again and i really couldn't see me watching Troll 2.

Troll was just bland Charles Band puppet nonsense, no different to stuff like Ghoulies, Hideous or The Creeps, that Full Moon, Charles Band era of 80'/ 90's movie making

Whereas Troll 2 is a prime Italian cheese fest. Ahem.

FF double bill.

Followed (2018, Antoine Le)

Youtuber cajoles his inner circle to stay over Halloween at a haunted hotel.
He's an arse, so couldn't wait to see him get his. Sadly it goes all Korean (US flick cough) for a bit and the final reveal was under ... whelming to say the least.

Death Of A Vlogger (2019, Graham Hughes)

Maryhill bound (hmm, they flats look awfy familiar ...) for a recap of a tale of twisty turny folk.
YT folk seem kinda needy tbh. This one likes pranks, so when a seemingly authentic event is captured by accident, a new horizon beckons ... or does it?
Needlessly convoluted mair like ken? :lol:
Ghostwatch was fun, but jist do yir ain thing mannie ahem.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demoncrat (Post 674616)

Whereas Troll 2 is a prime Italian cheese fest. Ahem.

After Death, Beyond Darkness and Night Killer are prime Italian cheese fests, all of which i am delighted to own. Troll 2 is just shit. ;) Plus it's more American than Italian any day of the week. Take Fragasso's name off it and everyone would just think it was a typically poor Full Moon munchkin fest.

How many horror films did he direct after Troll 2? I'll give you a clue. None, zilch, zero. It was so poor it killed his career stone dead. :lol:

I bet Frankie T absolutely loves it.

:laugh:

Speaking of cheese ....

Monster Shark (1984, Lamberto Bava)

When people start to go missing along a coastal stretch and a rather large tooth is found ....
Various folks have their say about this situation, the sherrif wants to kill it with fire and local science types want to preserve it for posterity. No one asks the beastie. Like the rest of his work, this is a mixture of dross and hilarious nonsense. The dub just adds to this. 4K NOW dagnabbit!! :laugh::nod:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demoncrat (Post 674622)

Dare i ask what the shark looks like in this? Not the nicked footage from Jaws or whatever but the actual shark that does the killing.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6DWu_dT0Phc

A disgruntled general has taking over the rock and has chemical rockets pointed at San Francisco unless his demands are met. Hope lies in the only man to escape the rock , the original James Bond , Sean Connery himself who teams up the Nicholas Cage who plays a FBI chemical weapon expert . Even in 60s Connery shows he can kick ass with the best of them. a enjoyable and fast paced action movie.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Olvpk5BXWCI

One of the best action movies of the 90s , here Cage plays a army Ranger whom accidentally kills a man and is sent to prison , nine years later he's released eager to meet the daughter he has never seen, but the plane he's on is highjacked by some of the worst criminals on the planet led by Cyrus the Virus ( John Malkovich) it's up to Cage to stop them along with help from John Cusack FBI agent we also have Steve Buscemi as deranged psychopath who for some reason I wanted to escape . A none stop action flick. Lots of shit definitely blows up.

Now watching.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S-nDX0BeFoQ

Excellent double bill there, Treb.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs (Post 674623)

Dare i ask what the shark looks like in this? Not the nicked footage from Jaws or whatever but the actual shark that does the killing.

Never seen this one myself, but I’m thinking it might look a bit like this:

Attachment 241637