What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

How can someone hate this wonderful movie!?

It's easy. There isn't enough fake infant snuff in it.


AAAnyway. Watched Iron Sky. Recommended.

[Daemonia]

Originally Posted by keirarts

just watched the optimum double bill of blacula and scream blacula scream.


Attachment 59615



plain no-nonsense vampire fun in the best tradition of AIP. Incredibly entertaining and well-made on a low budget. Optimums release looks fantastic as well.

'That's one straaange dude.'

[Daemonia]

Animal Kingdom (2011)

Crime drama focusing on a dysfunctional family of criminals who specialise in armed robbery. But with the arrival of their young nephew, orphaned by the overdose death of his mother, and with the cops closing in, it's all beginning to unravel.

Grim viewing and it never glamourises the criminal lifestyle, but neither does it paint the cops in a good light either. This is a world where everyone is corrupt and no-one can be trusted. Riveting viewing and recommended.

Cobra (1986)

Stallone is tough no nonsense cop Marion Cobretti aka The Cobra. There's a new threat in town - a vicious cult of ruthless killers and it's up to Cobra to stop them. It's all corny dialogue, OTT action sequences and an inevitable love interest. Standard 80's action fare, in other words. But I don't mind it and the Blu-ray looks great - and the UK Blu is uncut too!

Demolition Man (1993)

Stallone again, this time he's John Spartan, a cop wrongfully convicted and sentenced to cryogenic freezing - along with super-criminal Simon Phoenix (Wesley Snipes). Many years later, in a future where crime has been all but eradicated, Phoenix is thawed out and he escapes. It's not long before he's on a killing spree and so the authorities thaw out Spartan to catch him. It's all big action nonsense, but nicely done. The Blu-ray looks terrific and I enjoyed revisiting this one again.

The Awakening (2011)

In 1920's England Florence Cathcart (Rebecca Hall) is devoted to the task of debunking paranormal and spiritualist activities - and exposes a few frauds along the way. However, she is approached by Robert Mallory (Dominic West) who believes there is a real ghost at the boarding school where he teaches. Having arrived there, she quickly provides a rational explanation - but something isn't quite right, in spite of the explanation...

Riveting viewing and it keeps you guessing right up until the end. Hall and West are both on top form and keep you interested in their characters. Hall is particularly outstanding, it must be said. The location itself is enough to send a shiver up your spine. Well worth a look.

Snowtown (2011)

A young lad who is repeatedly abused discovers that her mother's new man friend lives a double life as a murderer of those he perceives as abusers. It's not long before everything starts spiralling out of control. An interesting and unflinching look at the activities of real-life serial killer John Bunting, which makes it all the more shocking, with it being based on fact.

Great performances all round from the Australian cast and it is suitably grim and downbeat. Really liked this, as horrible as it was.

Cliffhanger (1993)

Picked this up on Blu as I fancied seeing it again (and uncut finally). Stallone's his usual mumbling self and John Lithgow is good value as the villainous...er...villain. A group of thieves lose their stash of money in the snowy mountains and when they crash, they craftily call the local mountain rescue team. Along come Stallone and Michael Rooker and are promptly forced at gunpoint to lead the gang to the lost loot, which have tracking devices on them. Stallone quickly ecsapes and a snowy game of cat-and-mouse begins. Overall it's a decent enough action adventure, but Stallone was never going to win any awards. I enjoyed it again, though. The UK Blu is stunning, it must be said. Pin sharp and clear as a bell. Lovely.

A Nightmare on Elm Street (2010)

Jackie Earle Haley takes on the iconic role of Freddy Krueger in this remake from Michael Bay's Platinum Dunes. Haley is suitably menacing and makes sure the character is thoroughly evil and totally without humour, so I liked that about it. But is it as good as the original? Well, yes and no, some of it is quite inspired, while some of it falls flat. Not bad overall and Haley really gives it his all. But is it enough to shake off the spectre of Robert Englund? That's going to be a tough one. Be interesting to see if any sequels follow.

Whilst I didn't not enjoy it, it seemed totally unnecessary. Instead of remakes, why not reboot the franchise with a completely original story? That said, I'm glad I picked up the UK blu (it was going to cheap so I thought why not?) but I'm not sure it'll have much replay value. Time will tell.

Arthur (2011)

Blu-ray rental. Russell Brand steps into Dudley Moore's shoes to play the role of Arthur Bach in this remake. Sadly, Brand isn't half the actor (or half as funny) as Moore and is clearly out of his depth. That said, he doesn't do a bad job of playing the spoilt man-child who is brought to his senses by true love. The supporting cast around Brand are far more capable than he is and shows him to be the poor actor he is. So not a great film, but Brand wasn't quite as unbearable as I thought he would be.

Hot Potato (1976)

This is literally jaw-droppingly bizarre. Jim Kelly is Jones, a martial arts expert, who is assigned to rescue an ambassador's daughter after she is kidnapped in Thailand. That's it in a nutshell. Mostly it's just weird set pieces and odd things. Like the toy remote control police car they send whizzing around the terrorists compund for no apparent reason. Then they invade the compound on elephants. Kelly shouts charge and the elephants move at about half a mile an hour. Not exactly charging.

It's thoroughly strange but very enjoyable, from a trash cinema point of view. I'm not really sure who they were aiming this film at, at some points it seems like it's trying to be a family film, then the next it's trying to be a Bruce Lee film - even virtually ripping off Enter the Dragon's music score. A real curio and well worth checking out. It had me chuckling all the way through - I thought it was brilliant.

The old adage 'they don't make 'em like this anymore' really does apply here.

Breakout (1975)

Charles Bronson is Nick Colton who's asked by some pretty young thing (Jill Ireland) to bust her hubby out of a Mexican jail. He happily obliges and what follows is a series of daring raids to rescue hubby Robert Duvall. It's as daft as it sounds but it's top drawer entertainment. Really enjoyed this and Bronson is always a joy to watch in action, especially in his prime, as he is here. And the dispatching of a baddie on the blades of an oncoming aircraft is suprisingly splattery and worthy of Fulci.

Pulp Fiction (1994)

Nowhere near as brilliant as many make it out to be, but there's still plenty here to entertain. Travolta and Jackson are a superb pairing and the many notable star guest appearances are fun as well. Not as original as it would like to think it is, it's still an enjoyable homage to the cinema of pop art and crime noir. There's no denying that Tarantino is a lover of film and he wears his references and influences on his sleeve unashamedly. The Blu-ray looks terrific and is well worth the upgrade if you like the film.

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Pfft.

Priest (2011)

Paul Bettany stars as Priest, one of the last of an elite group of vampire killers trained by the Church. But when the vampire menace is all but eradicated, the Priests are put into retirement. But when Priest learns that vampires have attacked his family, it's time to face them once again - even if it means going against the Church. It sounds more interesting than it is. It's a nice premise set in an alternative future, but unfortunately the film fails to engage the viewer. I felt a bit alienated and more of a spectator than a participating viewer. The characters I couldn't warm to and the story just wasn't interesting enough. The editing makes the film move at a breakneck pace and as a result it's hard to get involved. The film whizzes from one thing to another so fast you can't really absorb anything. Not very good I'm afraid. The Blu-ray does look very nice and the film is certainly very visually dazzling - but it all felt a bit vacuous and insubstantial. Not one I'd really recommend.

Cyborg (1992)

Early Van Damme vehicle in which he's a mercenary for hire and is hired by a cyborg, Pearl Prophet, to escort her to Atlanta where scientists are working on a cure for the plague that has decimated America. Pearl carries vital information for these scientists. But when she is kidnapped by Fender Tremolo (what a stupid name for a character, Hank Marvin would've been better (those who know what a tremolo is will get the joke)) and so Van Damme sets out after Fender. He also has a score to settle with Fender over some incident. It's all a bit of a mish-mash really and gets a bit muddled at times. But Jean Claude saves the day, as usual.

I've attempted to watch this film a couple of times before, a long time ago, but couldn't gtet into it. This time, though, I really quite enjoyed it. Albert Pyun isn't a very good director though, it has to be said. The whole film is shot as if it's a bad 80's hair metal rock video - all bulging muscles, long hair and scantily clad females. But I found it all quite enjoyable for some strange reason. I'll definitely have to check out Cyborg 2 now.

The House by the Cemetery (1981)

Fulci's classic horror needs no introduction - it's thin on plot but big on gore, and that's fine. A young family move into the old Freudstein house, only to discover that it's former occupant may never have left and it's not long before people are being beaten, cut and generally mutilated. It's all nicely done and very much a film of its time, but it's great fun nevertheless. Blue Underground breathe new life into the film with a gorgeous new HD transfer for their Blu-ray and it looks and sounds the best it ever has. I bet Fulci never thought people would still be watching his film over 30 years later! Well worth the upgrade and I thoroughly enjoyed every gore soaked second of it....again.

Transformers: Dark of the Moon (2011)

Bay returns with a second sequel and it's big budget mayhem all the way. The Autobots unwittingly collect some salvage from a crashed moon landing many years previous, but don't realise that what they've brought back is a space bridge. Trouble is, Sentinel Prime has struck a deal with the Decepticons and they're going to use the bridge to bring Cybertron to earth. It's brilliantly done and there's no denying Bay handles material like this extremely well. Thoroughly enjoyed this, silly as it was.

Unknown (2010)

Blu rental. Dr Martin Harris (Liam Neeson) arrives in snowy Berlin with his beautiful wife to attend a science convention. But upon arriving atb his hotel discovers that he's left his briefcase at the airport and so hastily calls a cab to go and retrieve it. Unfortunately, on the way back to the airport, the taxi crashes and he lands up in hospital for four days and in a comatose state. When he regains consciousness he's surprised that his wife hasn't come looking for him. Concerned for her he books out of hospital and heads back to their hotel. Upon arriving there he quickly learns that someone else has taken his place and is calling themselves Martin Harris and so the race begins to figure out his true identity.

Overall it's not bad and the story packs a nice twist. Not brilliant, but enjoyable enough.

Winter's Bone (2010)

A young girl is left to care for her sick mother and her younger siblings when the father takes off. Unfortunately he's due in court and he's used the family house as colateral against his bond - but no-one can find him. The young girl tries to find him which sets her on a path to some sinister discoveries.

It's really not very exciting and nothing much happens, but it does hold your interest. Not bad.

Direct Contact (2009)

Good old Dolph Lundgren flexes his muscles in this no-brain actioner. Mike Riggins (Dolph Lundgren) is doing time ina Russian jail when he's offered the chance of regaining his freedom if he carries out a job - rescuing an American woman from the Russians. He agrees to this but soon finds out things aren't what they seem and the bullets and fists come freely. An enjoyable actioner that doesn't outstay its welcome.

Straw Dogs (2010)

Tepid remake of Peckinpah's classic that doesn't come close to matching its sheer power and ferocity. The plot is pretty much the same, just transplanted to America's deep south. None of the 'bad' characters seemed particularly menacing, but James Woods puts in a good turn. Badly scripted and poorly acted. Not very good, I'm afraid.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly

There's glorious sunshine right now as I type....can't say how long it will last for though.

well thats your summer for the year then so enjoy it

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

How can someone hate this wonderful movie!?

I am a massive fan of John Hughes's 80s work, but I have trouble with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The character of Ferris is impossible to like. He is abusive, manipulative, selfish, irresponsible and thoroughly unpleasant, yet here he is presented as a hero. It's repulsive.

The film is extremely well made, but I don't see how anyone can actually like it so long as it proffers Ferris Bueller as anything other than someone to be despised.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Daemonia

Red Riding Hood (2011)

Pfft.

I think i must be the only person about who enjoyed Red Riding Hood.

[Handyman Joe]

Last night I watched what is, in my opinion, one of the top 3 films of the last 20 years - Morvern Callar by Lynne Ramsey. This is a movie that can be enjoyed straight but is especially amazing if under the influence (can I say stoned!?) The entire movie mimics a druggy state of mind - the editing, soundtrack, lighting, etc is, well.... trippy. At one point our anti-heroines are in an Indian guys taxi and this brief, transitory, scene is shot in lurid, saturated colours so it resembles the look of a Bollywood production. It's this attention to detail (see also the dog on the pool table) that make this film such a treat to revisit. A modern masterpiece and criminally underappreciated.

[Hawkmonger]

Originally Posted by Gojirosan

I am a massive fan of John Hughes's 80s work, but I have trouble with Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

The character of Ferris is impossible to like. He is abusive, manipulative, selfish, irresponsible and thoroughly unpleasant, yet here he is presented as a hero. It's repulsive.

The film is extremely well made, but I don't see how anyone can actually like it so long as it proffers Ferris Bueller as anything other than someone to be despised.

THIS.
The Character just ruins what could otherwise have been a decent enough coming of age film. With this unlikable little scrote in it I just wanted to flip and smack the selfish little turd right across the jaw.

[Frankie Teardrop]

DEADBALL - More Japanese comedy splatter. Normally I hate comedic horror and, although I wince at a lot of J-Splat 'humour' (I'm usually after something finger-rakingly bleak like 'All Night Long 3'), it's mostly integral to the bizarre atmosphere I crave, which is present in abundance here along with a load of shitty CGI gore. Japan's most wanted delinquent ends up in the slammer, where nazi governer tricks him into joining the facility baseball team (long story, but he vowed never to play the game again after killing his father with a particularly enthusiastic pitch). Prison team play scantily clad murderer-girl counterparts and find it's all a set-up to ensure aforementioned shitty CGI gore happens before an audience of dehumanised nazis in the throes of ecstatic bloodlust (thank god for such razor sharp satire). Then a big robot kills everyone. Then some other stuff happens, but you'll be too delirious / disgusted / annoyed / bored (pick according to disposition) to care. Well, actually I DID care, and I thoroughly enjoyed this whacky vortex of vileness, and I advise you to do the same.

[VicDakin]

to nights viewing