Deathcheaters

Working my way through the additional films on Man from Hong Kong so started with this. It features Brian Trenchard-smith's favourite stuntman Grant page teaming up with John Hargreaves as two Nam' vets turned stuntmen who end up working for Australia's secret service. In all honesty there's not much more to it than that and the secret agent stuff only kicks in in the third act. However its not really about the plot, its about the stunts. This is where the film succeeds and it does it very well indeed as Trenchard-smith knows how to shoot stunts (having also done plenty himself!) If the sheer balls to the wall first act doesn't grab you then giver up because its front loaded with some stunt genius that hooked me in and in fairness the middle section gets a little saggy before coming back alive for the third act. I found it highly entertaining however.


Stunt rock

More Grant page fun from Brian Trenchard-smith. Once again the plot is wafer thin, here it splits its focus on Page and his stunt work. It also has a lot of concert footage from a hair metal band called Sorcery that probably seemed like it was the s*** until spinal tap and then punk shot it out the water. Once again its tons of fun with sorcerers theatrical stage show being entertaining itself and Page and his stunts really sealing the deal.

Time After Time. HG Wells (Malcolm McDowell) has just built a time machine for real but before he can use it one of his dinner guests (David Warner), who is rather unexpectedly revealed as Jack the Ripper when the police come calling, steals it and escapes into time. Wells manages to follow him and finds that the future - in this case 1979 San Francisco - isn't exactly the utopian society he was expecting... Mary Steenburgen (who clearly has a thing for time travelers) plays the modern woman who falls for Wells as he struggles to stop the Ripper before more people die in this entertaining and fun late 70s fantasy adventure.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Do6BqbQRIv8


The late Miguel Ferrer plays a cynical tabloid journalist who's latest story has him hunting the night flier a psychopathic killer who believes that he is a vampire, as he investigates he begins to believe that the killer might actually be a vampire. An interesting take on the usual vampire tale, with a strong performance from Ferrer, for a low budget film its above a lot of bigger budget King adaptations. Chilling and atmospheric. Always been a bit of a guilty pleasure this one.7.7/10

I think i must be the only one on the forum who thinks The Night Flier sucked. :lol:

I have to admit I quite like it too over more acclaimed King adaptions like The Shining.

That sucks even more than The Night Flier. :lol:

I have no words. [emoji57]

Split.

I liked Sixth sense. I really liked Unbreakable. I liked it because it didn't repeat the formula of Sixth sense and actually tried to go someplace else without sacrificing any of director M. Knight Shyamalan's particular style. Unfortunately Unbreakable didn't do great business so instead we got a series of increasingly contrived twist endings with something like a plot bolted on.
Thankfully Shyamalan has given up making films predicated on there being a big mysterious twist. Instead we get the sort of film the director should have been making ages ago. Its a dark twisted fairy tale with elements of things like altered states as the central character(s) played brilliantly with an unselfconscious performance from James Macavoy who switches between one of the many personalities inhabiting his body. The threat of a final personality emerging, a nietzschean cannibalistic monster named the beast, lends an ominous build up of dread as you begin to realise he might not be insane.
In liked this film a lot. Its difficult to discuss a minor but important plot point that will change how you viewed the film without the film being built entirely around it. Reccomended. His best film in years.

I had zero interest in this film until i read Keirarts' review.

There's a lot more I could say about the film but I've stuck to things you could get either from the trailer or kermodes review.

SISTERS – Even though I've never been all that hot on DePalma, I have to admit he's made some pretty stunning films. 'Blow Out', 'Carrie', 'Phantom of the Paradise', they're all great, and highly distinctive too, what with his slightly hysterical flair for dramatics and visuals. 'Sisters', pretty much his first non-indie, is up there with the best of them. It feels quite audacious for its time – not many films back in 1973 would have attempted to bridge the gap between Hitchcock, Polanski and David Cronenberg, especially since the latter had yet to even make 'Shivers'. Plotwise, it follows Margot Kidder as she tries to deal with her murderous twin and the reporter from across the way. It starts with a riff on 'Rear Window', but its final third is a nightmarish and impressionistic unravelling of experimental psychiatry gone wrong. DePalma's flashy stylistics are in place, but the atmosphere is creepy rather than loud. I really liked it.

DELLAMORTE DELLAMORE – Perhaps the original rom-zom-com, Michele Soavi's 'Dellamorte Dellamore' unfolds in a small town graveyard, where an undertaker has to cope with a nightly upsurge of the undead. Well, Italian horror flick this may be, but gravedigger guy (or, why don't I just call him 'Cemetery Man'?) seems to be more bothered about existential ennui, his shitty love life and the exploits of his dense assistant. DD has really grown on me over the years, and I've come to recognise just how unique it is as a movie, throwing bits of wonky philosophising in with Italo zombie mayhem, black comedy and a wonderland style palette that would make the likes of Del Toro and T Burton gasp. Interestingly (for me) the film doesn't so much try for thrills or suspense as it does an atmosphere of curdled whimsy. I like the way it just drifts along – there's no plot, really, although things do take more of a shape during its latter half when cemetery man turns into a bit of a murderer. Even this drama is handled with a languid shrug of the kind perhaps best summed up when Cemetery Man's only friend emerges from a coma after massacring his family to murmur “everything's just...shit”. Pretty great.

BLACK MAGIC – You can get much weirder and more out there HK horror than 'Black Magic', but I liked this. I'm no expert in this domain of the genre, but 'Black Magic' pretty much got the early eighties Hong Kong horror renaissance's ball rolling, and, whilst its titular sequel offers more gore, freakiness and, erm, tits, the original doesn't necessarily skimp on the good stuff. It is weighted more in favour of story and development however, so, rather than craning your neck looking for bad special effects involving the puking of centipedes, you might have to accept the necessity of following a plotline about a woman's attempts to seduce some dude via sorcery before anything particularly graphic gets going. That said, obviously nothing goes to plan, leaving the door open for various HK horror staples (such as nice looking worms under skin) to eventually slip into the room. Speaking of rooms, this film is tres chichi, and resembles a peyote head's recollections of an interior design catalogue from 1975. Which in my book is definitely a reason to see it.

Attachment 186171

The only thing i will say about the plot is its the last seven days of Laura Palmers life before the events of the TV show of Twin Peaks just incase there are people who have not watched the series yet.

Its been a long time since i last watched this and with a new season of Twin Peaks on the horizon im diving back in to this and the series before it airs in four months :rolleyes: :lol:

Its a hard one to review without spoiling not only the film but the show itself. This film takes me on an emotional rollercoaster and thats purely down to the amazing performance of Sheryl Lee she absolutely blows my mind in every scene. Everything she does just feels so real and heartfelt you can really feel her fears her heartbreak and her complete emotional breakdown. This is one of the most believable and haunting performances i have ever seen in any film.

Note to anyone who has not seen the Twin Peaks tv series this is a prequel so watch the show first.

9/10

Sorry for the bare bones review but im sure you can understand the difficult situation with this one.

Indeed I do. The show is ropey at best and the film is plain crap. [emoji41]

Jesus i thought my review was bare bones :tongue1:

I watched Massacre in Dinosaur Valley last night and all the way through was wondering why anyone would want to pay £10,000 to restore such trash :lol: It was absolutely terrible in every way. I was also scratching my head at where the 2 minutes of cuts would have been made on the Vipco DVD. I know that the BBFC had a thing about showing blood on boobs, so that's one cut, but everything else was so tame!

However, having said all of that, after watching Callum talking about it and how it fits into the whole cannibal sub-genre it made me slightly re-evaluate my original thoughts. It's still shit, but it's semi-interesting shit :lol:

Those of you who, like me, have seen La La Land and were interested in the references, might enjoy this video which smartly edits together the musicals from around the world and across several decades to which Damien Chazelle paid homage:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iI5BPRrj554

My wife's going to watch La La Land Friday with some other women.

That's really interesting Nos. Thanks for posting. I've never heard of The Band Wagon which LA LA Land's most iconic set piece emulates.

I think i have all the other films shown, in my dvd collection.

Should i get my coat? :peep:

and your hat, scarf and gloves too. :tongue1:

No, I really think everyone should give it a chance I'm not a big fan of musicals but I loved it.

Interestingly, I also think The Band Wagon is the only one mentioned which I don't own. Coincidentally or not, the Criterion Collection will be releasing Umbrellas of Cherbourg and The Girls of Rochefort in a couple of months.

Watching that video made me want to go and see La La Land at the cinema again and revisit all the films referenced within.

That is very enjoyable, thank you

However...some of the connections are a bit on the tentative side! A couple of girls walking along, swishing their flouncy skirts, could have been from a dozen films from the 40's and 50's!

Also, since when has 'Boogie Nights' be considered a musical? It might have a soundtrack, but it's no more a musical than 'Goodfellas', which also has a soundtrack

All the girls in different coloured dresses swishing their skirts and dancing. You seriously think that's tenuous? Never, it's clearly a take on the Sweet Charity sequence shown.

Like you i did wonder why Boogie Nights was mentioned. Slightly odd.

It's got more in common with the dance sequence to 'America' from 'West Side Story'!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_e2igZexpMs

Not at all remotely like it.

I think we'll have to agree to disagree.

;)

http://www.lolhome.com/img_big/you-are-wrong.jpg

;)

Yes, it's better just you being wrong. :nod: :tongue1:

Wrong again!

You obviously didn't read the picture!!

But I'll let you have the last word

:focus:

Star Trek: Nemesis (2002)

The final film from the tv Star Trek crews, spanning over 20 years. Sadly Nemesis is nowhere near the best of these ten Star Trek films.

The story about a Reman clone of Picard (a rubbish Tom Hardy) who has negotiated peace with the Romulans and are about to attack Earth is certainly one of those films that could be classed as being a feature length tv episode and on the whole is not that outstanding although there are numerous action sequences none are exactly enthralling viewing. Yet worst of all there are plot points lifted directly from other Trek films as well as the tv series itself. - Data clones, crashing the Enterprise into another vessel. It all seemed a tad tired.

Oh and who exactly are the Remans? Aren't Romulans supposedly related to Vulcans? Why invent a new sister race primarily for this movie?

As usual with the Next Generation crew the film's main plus points come from their interaction especially the death of Data and the early scenes of Riker and Troi's wedding.

Star Trek: Nemesis isn't a bad film, but it is very average and feels a step down from the two films that preceded it and a poor way for the curtain to come down for Picard, Riker etal.

Watched Dr Strangelove (1964) for the first time on Netflix last night when I couldn't get to sleep. Can't believe I waited this long to see it, probably because Kubrick's other films I have seen, apart from The Clockwork Orange, namely The Shining and 2001 haven't quite lived up, for me, to the huge praise they get as landmarks of cinema, especially 2001.

Absolutely loved Dr Strangelove though, gets a 10/10 for me, now I can see why some call Kubrick a genius :clap:

quite recently a radio announcer in all seriousness referred to it as Kubricks Dr Strange Glove.........:pound:

Anyone else think that general Ripper would make a better President than Trump?

certainly could not be any worse,I wonder how Trump is doing for fluids?

Well he sure does like Golden Showers I have heard :pound:

Watched that there The Girl With All The Gifts. Was it me, or did the ending look very silly, or just silly? Please no spoilers of course.
May read the book cough....

Also perused Under The Shadow again, as T**** have it for £8 at the moment. A great wee film. Hopefully not to be remade with Naomi Watts cough. Recommended!!!!

Death Race (2008)

**1/2 out of *****

Death Race 2 (2010)

*** out of *****

Death Race: Inferno (2013)

*** out of *****

The Killer Must Kill Again (1975)

***1/2 out of *****

Hacksaw Ridge

Mel Gibson's Hollywood rehabilitation is a success of sorts in this film about real World War II hero, conscientious objector Desmond Doss, a Seventh-day Adventist who wanted to enlist as an Army medic on the condition he would not be required to touch, let alone carry, a gun, which doesn't go down well with the army or his father.

It is a film of two halves, with the first hour or so devoted to his childhood and troubled relationship with his alcoholic father, attraction to, quote above, and subsequent marriage to Dorothy, a nurse. This then blends into the second half in which the army want him to quit or be subject to dishonourable discharge because of his refusal to carry a weapon – even branding him as a coward or unfit to serve on psychiatric grounds. This part is almost like the first half of Full Metal Jacket, only with Vince Vaughn as the army sergeant trying to whip the men into (psychological and physical) shape as R. Lee Ermey did to the 'maggots' in Kubrick's Vietnam war movie.

Once the action shifts to Okinawa, Mel Gibson's propensity for extreme violence and gore pays dividends because the movie is suitably bloody, loud, frenetic, and conveys the carnage of fighting the Japanese on their own soil extremely well. However, there are some parts where things slow down and there is almost messianic score by Rupert Gregson-Williams which feels a bit too ham-fisted and sentimental. This is one of the major problems of the first half, which is too long and too saccharine – I just wanted things to progress a bit quicker and to see Doss do the things which made him a war hero.

It is occasionally visually brilliant and when the explosions from artillery shells thunders through the speakers and into your body it makes the cinema experience worthwhile. However, the 'Hallmark' element is possibly something which plays better in the US and I thought it was a bit too much, wanting Gibson to get the visceral storytelling of Apocalypto (still his best film) without overemphasising why we should care about the central characters. Hacksaw Ridge is worth seeing, but I'm not sure why it is so well represented at the Oscars (I'm surprised Andrew Garfield was nominated for this and not Silence, which also missed out in the Best Picture and Best Director categories).

Interesting review, Nos.

I can do without the saccharine, it's what ruined The Pacific for me. Also i can do without Vince Vaughn f'in and blinding for an hour. It's one of the reasons i don't watch Full Metal Jacket very often. Ermey soon begins to grate when you've seen it once already.

I doubt i'll bother with it now.