What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demoncrat]

Originally Posted by PaulD

It was the all-pervading sense of tension and dread in the household scenes that really had me on edge

Indeed. Though having quite a similarily fraught relationship with a friend for years, I felt quite at home watching these cough cough

[Handyman Joe]

More Rollin for me last night - Fascination. Well, this was really just soft porn n'est pas? It's interesting how awful Rollin was at shooting hetero sex scenes yet what a devilish old master he was at the sapphic stuff - blindingly obvious where his interests lay. This movie just about passes muster but not one of his top efforts for me.

[SharonLynette]

Make Mine Mink (1960) British comedy starring Terry-Thomas, Hattie Jacques and Billie Whitelaw. A group of lodgers decide to steal mink coats in order to sell them on and pass the money to charity. A nice film that I hadn't actually heard of before, very entertaining in an afternoon film on channel 4 kind of way.

Illegal Aliens (2007) touted as last film with Anna-Nicole Smith in, a bit pointless as she really didn't do much acting and certainly didn't in this, bless her. It was actually watchable but I think they were playing too hard on the schlock aspect of it, it would have been an okay bad film if they hadn't played it as knowingly bad.

Diary Of A Lost Girl (1929) I don't know what to say about this, it's such a wonderful, stylish film. I would recommend it to anyone and everyone.

Groundhog Day (1993) I watch this every year just before Christmas (I find anything with snow in Christmassy), I hated it when it first came out but grew to love it. Streamed it through Lovefilm this morning, twice but slept through it the second time.

[Rik]

Couple of Italian Zombie films for me last night inspired by yesterdays watch of ZFE. First up was Zombie Holocaust, a film I really need to upgrade, haven't watched it in ages and still really enjoy it. Followed it with the Vipco disc of Zombie Flesh Eaters 2 AKA Zombi 3, still as much of a pile of shite as when I last watched it years ago, don't know why I was expecting any different!

[Gojirosan]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

Maybe. I just felt that if that was his intention, that side could have been fleshed out slightly more. don't get me wrong, I'm all for ambiguity in a film, but this just jarred. Due to the back-and-forth about KL on here, I was waiting for this "shift" and it just felt too tacked on imo. The bit with the hammer though....

It was the jarring effect that saved the film for me. The early bulk of it was annoying me - yet another tedious Brit ultra-realist gangster/domestic effort that would never live up to Dead Man's Shoes - but then just as I was wearying ultimately, BOOM! it became interesting.

The end saved it from being consigned to the "Ken Loach bin" of my mind, and I ended up liking the whole.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Handyman Joe

More Rollin for me last night - Fascination. Well, this was really just soft porn n'est pas? It's interesting how awful Rollin was at shooting hetero sex scenes yet what a devilish old master he was at the sapphic stuff - blindingly obvious where his interests lay. This movie just about passes muster but not one of his top efforts for me.

To me Fascination is a great jumping on point for non Rollin fans as it covers everything from the Gothic to sex and fairly strong violence. It was my first Rollin film so i have a bit of a soft spot for it.

Originally Posted by SharonLynette

Illegal Aliens (2007) touted as last film with Anna-Nicole Smith in, a bit pointless as she really didn't do much acting and certainly didn't in this, bless her. It was actually watchable but I think they were playing too hard on the schlock aspect of it, it would have been an okay bad film if they hadn't played it as knowingly bad.

Illegal Aliens was really bad but for whatever reason i found it really good fun. I think maybe it was because Smith seemed so ditzy in it. Seen it twice now. There may be something wrong with me.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by fuzzymctiger

The whole mind reader thing with the original ring just didn't sit well with me, plus the cinematography and better atmosphere made the remake a lot better in my opinion. I list it as one of the rare cases where the remake is better than the original.

Except the remake is boring as hell, just like with the ring remake the cinematograpy was lovely but that was it. Not scary in the slightest and missing the lift scene was an idiotic decision. Thought the remake of dark water was plain old-fashioned bad filmmaking.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

December 4th

The Gathering (2001)

An intriguing supernatural thriller starring the ever watchable Christina Ricci as an American back packer whose life suddenly turns mysterious after she is hit by a car in rural England. Once fully recovered she has horrific visions of the locals and their impending deaths.

I really liked this British film, the bulk of its story deals with a newly discovered ruined church and its depictions of the gathering crowds at the crucifixion of Christ. The plot had me engrossed immediately and i found its story refreshing. The ending was never going to fulfill the rest of the story with any great satisfaction unfortunately, but to me it really didn't matter as i liked the overall mystery so much.

With a very strong supporting cast - Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Dillane and Kerry Fox and marvellous tranquil village locations, The Gathering is a film i will definitely revisit in the future.

Iron Man 2 (2010)

One of those films i really should have seen by now, along with its mates Thor, Captain America, Avengers Assemble and the unrelated X-Men First Class which have all been on my shelf unwatched for months and in this case years. Iron Man 2 was a hugely enjoyable two hours viewing, perhaps not as good as the first but still very entertaining.

This time Robert Downey Jr returns as Tony Stark / Iron Man to combat Mickey Rourke's entertaining Whiplash villain. And set the cogs in motion for the upcoming Avengers Assemble. The opening clash between Whiplash and Stark at a Formula 1 race was superb fun, cars being ripped in two by the flailing whips of Rourke's character made for a fine action set piece.

Somehow superhero films now get themselves fantastic casts, unheard of since the classic epics of the fifties and sixties. As well as the two already mentioned we have Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Rockwell and in a more developed role this time Samuel L Jackson as Nick Fury. Director Jon Favreau gives them all substantial roles and together with a fine soundtrack - AC/DC, The Clash etc and enjoyable storyline, Iron Man 2 is a welcome addition to the superhero canon. Stick around after the end credits for a fine cameo from... well that would be telling.

[Rik]

I'm the same, me and my boys still need to check out Iron Man 2, before part 3 is released and we still haven't seen any of the others apart from Avengers Assemble, I'm toying with the idea of buying the boxset with all the films in despite it getting poor reviews online

[Nemesis]

Purana Mandir (on Mondo Macabro's Bollywood Horror vol. 1) - seriously good stuff. Fabulous 2 disc set with a solid documentary on Indian and Pakistani cinema.