What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Howard Hawks classic musical comedy which quite literally cemented the star status of Marilyn Monroe and Jane Russell.

The film with the iconic Diamonds are a Girls Best Friend musical number performed by Monroe which has gone down in history, and although Marilyn is perfect as the ditzy gold digging blonde it's Russell who steals the show for me.

How she kept a straight face delivering her wonderfully witty lines i'll never know, nor when she performed a musical number with the scantily dressed members of the all male Olympic athletics team. Never the less both stars are amazing and shine as brightly as the lavish song and dance numbers they perform and diamonds they long for. They look stunning throughout all magically captured in glorious Technicolor which simply bursts from the screen.

Hawks keeps the story ticking over nicely in it's streamlined ninety minute run time, capturing a wonderful chemistry between the stars which was sadly never replicated as this was their one and only film together.

Seventy years on Gentlemen Prefer Blondes remains a witty, sexy and extremely charming, not to mention visually stunning delight.

[MrBarlow]

Don't Blink. 2014.

A group of friends stay at secluded woodland area, one by one they begin to disappear.

So we got another Cabin In the wood, there is no mad men hacking up people, people being possessed or strange creatures and monsters. This was a blind watch on prime and was expecting a slow burner of a movie that drags on, what I got is something that would be seen as a Twilight Zone or Outer limits episode that the ending is left to the viewers imagination. There is some tense moments and not exactly edge of your seat but does seem to hold your attention when some paranoia moments set in.

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[MrBarlow]

Playhouse. 2020.

A playwriter rents a castle in the Scottish highlands with his daughter who falls foul to curse residing within the walls.

Like any historic castle there is always a ghost story or urban legend which the main character tries to re-create and both character and plot fails miserably. Apart from the atmosphere that is built up with the backstory to the plot, the film goes nowhere and eventually becomes a dull boring film.

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[MrBarlow]

Survivor. 2015.

A service officer working in the American embassy in London is framed for a bombing and tries to clear her name while being chased by a assassin.

Milla Jovovich plays Kate assigned to over check Visa requests with supervisor Robert Forster seems to take a attitude when Dr Balan played by Roger Rees (in his last film role) is asked for more paperwork. Pierce Brosnan plays a man known as The Watchmaker and paid assassin who is hired to plan a big attack in New York and is known to embassy worker Dylan McDermot.

This is nothing spectacular and something we have seen before except with a solid female lead in a game of cat and mouse with the assassin and also her fellow workers who know how she can evade their watchful eye. Brosnan does have a good strong on screen presence and doesn't disappoint as a ruthless killer and somewhat game player with his employers. Entertaining enough.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

Survivor. 2015.

A service officer working in the American embassy in London is framed for a bombing and tries to clear her name while being chased by a assassin.

Milla Jovovich plays Kate assigned to over check Visa requests with supervisor Robert Forster seems to take a attitude when Dr Balan played by Roger Rees (in his last film role) is asked for more paperwork. Pierce Brosnan plays a man known as The Watchmaker and paid assassin who is hired to plan a big attack in New York and is known to embassy worker Dylan McDermot.

This is nothing spectacular and something we have seen before except with a solid female lead in a game of cat and mouse with the assassin and also her fellow workers who know how she can evade their watchful eye. Brosnan does have a good strong on screen presence and doesn't disappoint as a ruthless killer and somewhat game player with his employers. Entertaining enough.

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I really like this, seen it two or three times.

For a low budget thriller ($20m) it's pretty good.

[MrBarlow]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I really like this, seen it two or three times.

For a low budget thriller ($20m) it's pretty good.

It's one id certainly watch again especially round the festive season.

[trebor8273]

A nearly unrecognisable Eric Roberts with a beard goes on a camping trip with his wife on young son. On the way back they witness a UFO and soon come to the attention of the sinister men in black , who are out to kill them, they are soon on the run and a game of cat and mouse begins , the authorities can't help so they seek the help of a UFO expert Dean Stockwell. Noting special but Stockwell and Roberts give it there best while the first 3/4 is case of cat and mouse the last quarter feels like a zombie movie , with legions of unkillable men in black laying siege to Stockwell's home.




Always had a soft spot for this, the actings pretty bad in places and the story's a bit all over the place but it has a certain charm.


The town of Ludlow receives a antique piano on its bicentennial, soon afterwards strange and mysterious deaths start which are linked to the town's founding. It does sound a little like the superior The Fog.


Now watching . I loved these two as a kid , fondly remember renting their movies every Saturday on VHS when I was a kid.

[MrBarlow]

The Flesh And The Fiends. 1960.

Peter Cushing plays the Scottish (using his own English accent) medical tutor Doctor Knox and introduced to William Burke and William Hare played by Donald Pleasance and George Rose who supply Knox with dead bodies in exchange for money. When the dead bodies are slowly becoming a no show, both men decide to murder people.

I have seen the The Bodysnatcher and The Doctor And The Devils both were really good adaptations of the Burke and Hare story but this version has seemed to slip through the cracks. The acting in this is brilliant, Billie Whitlaw is the bubbly lady who manages to do a decent accent, Cushing's performance is one of his bests outside the Dracula hammer films, even in Black And White you can fell the dark atmosphere that was brilliantly created.

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[MrBarlow]

The Great Alligator. 1979.

In some places, animals are considered God's so why not have a Alligator as a god and a bunch of tourists on a tropical island upset it's followers and goes on a rampage. Sergio Martino takes the helm with this cheesy Jaws rip off that has a what appears to be a rubber looking Alligator that doesn't look too bad. Barbara Bach, Mel Ferrer and Claudo Cassinelli are some of the newbies on the island who are on the lunch menu with a bunch of horny teens. The underwater sequences are decently shot, the acting isn't too bad but it can be a slow burner in some bits.

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[trebor8273]

A bunch of ships and submarines are being destroyed in the artic circle , so the tiger shark the world's most advanced sub is sent too investigate and soon learns it's the work of a under water UFO. A very enjoyable b movie which was like a extended episode of voyage to the bottom of the sea, sure they did a similar story years later.



Another enjoyably 50s b movie , here a engineer/ pilot working for the navy says he say a UFO , he isn't believed until other aircraft start disappearing . They soon find that it's not UFO in the traditional sense big gigantic flying turkey the loves snaking on people, it also has a antimatter shield which makes it invincible. The creature looks quite laughable but also a little creepy at the same time .





A interesting little Aussie horror, which a ex con working on his brother's farm begins noticing strange things happening animals attacking and dying for no reason , people acting strangely and violently and strange burnt circles on the ground. It's a bit of a slow burn but was enjoyable and kept me hook from beginning to end.




Another enjoyably 50s monster movie. When a group of violent and gruesome deaths occurs in a small town some of the locals think it's the work of monster , but most don't believe this until it pops out of freezer carrying a bloody surveyed head.

This is surprisingly bloody and gruesome for it's time with the head and the brutal slaying of a young girl.


Now watching