What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death. (1968)

First in the series of Sartana films. Starring the excellent Gianni Garko as Sartana and the charismatic William Berger as Lasky, the villain of the film. The film about the quest for stolen gold, rival gangs and corrupt officials is nothing new to the western genre but the two leads ensure the story remains interesting and above all a lot of fun. Lasky's weapon of choice - a gatling gun and Sartana's four chambered miniature square gun - provide many of the bullets and a fair few deaths as well.

The film has a feel of The Good the Bad and the Ugly's characterization about it in that although Sartana eventually kills Lasky he clearly has a grudgingly strained relationship with him throughout.

By the time of this release the spaghetti western which arrived like a breath of fresh air four years earlier was getting stale and cliched. One or two scenes were quite slow and predictable and the beating Sartana receives to the horrendous chorus of laughter from the participants is a cliche i hate in the Spaghetti genre.

However the odd niggle aside If You Meet Sartana Pray for Your Death is an entertaining film particularly when Garko and Berger are on screen.

[Demoncrat]

The Crazies (Breck Eisner, 2010)
As stately paced as the original is, lawdy send me home to old Pennsylvania where at least a knitting needle in the eye would be more preferable to this morass of cliched drivel. Characters step in and out of character, people who are supposedly on the run walk down the middle of the highway, and the tension free "action" sequences are pre-dic-table by numbers.

I will never watch the Carrie rehash
I will never watch the Carrie rehash
I will never watch the Carrie rehash
Never!
Never!!
Never!!!

I tells ye....


Did I mention I'm not overly fond of Gerard Butler? Well

Beowulf & Grendel (Sturla Gunnarson, 2005)

CONTAINS SPOILERS


May just tip the balance, a, er, fresh look at the rather long poem, this is a good mile ahead of that awful shite with Ray Winstaaaaan, but then bathing in cat litter would be a more reasonable use of your time than watching that particular "movie" again ahem.
With a cast of familiar faces (Eddie Marsan as a mad Oirish Xtian? Check!) this rollicks along at a fairish pace, with everyone enjoying themselves in their roles. And if that doesn't float yir boat, the scenery (Iceland?) is stunning in places imho. The blurb mentions "revealing the raw truth behind the hero myth". To my mind this is neatly done in one scene, where the titular Butler is reduced to shouting "why won't he fight me?"

And Sarah Polley looks nice with red hair cough.

[ArgentoFan1987]

Originally Posted by Dave Boy

A good evenings viewing....

When I watched Creature From the Black Lagoon, I couldn't take my eyes of Julie Adams' legs!!! They were amazing!!!!

[Demoncrat]

What a memory. I also rewatched, after many years,

Double Indemnity (1944, Billy Wilder)

thanks to Film4. For all the wrangles behind the scenes, this is a great example of film noir, plus Edward G Robinson plays the "good" guy for once!!


I always felt that Stanwyck wouldn't let you put it in her arse though cough.

[Demoncrat]

Harumph. this is why I should write more lists.

ALSO watched Sint ("Saint") (2010, Dick Maas) (Metrodome dvd)
Woooh mama. This is a strong contender for my Boxing Day do. Seeing as it, for once, is a festive frightfest . Embittered cop-with-a-dark-past Goert can't convince his collegues that an ancient curse will come true. Guess what happens? Cheesy and highly enjoyable (in a way that poofaced Crazies reflog could never be), this I also picked up after hearing about it on here, ta folks!!

[Nemesis]

Funeral in Berlin

A very good cold war thriller - I had to rewatch it again soon after to appreciate the nuances and the twists. It's been ages since I last saw the Ipcress File, but Michael Caine is really terrific as Palmer; I really like how he plays him in a more casual, understated fashion which suits the character totally - Palmer's a genius, who does not miss a thing; if he was not working as a British spy, he'd be a criminal mastermind.

It was also really good to see Eva Renzi from Bird with the Crystal Plumage.

Plot of Fear

Quite a good Italian thriller, but not as good as I thought it would be. Was expecting more of giallo - it certainly started that way, but then lost its momentum throughout the middle. Recaptured it in the end though. But after watching the special features, it's clear the director wanted it to be more than a standard giallo and wanted it to reflect various issues going on in Italian society at the time.

A bit of a nostalgic buy this one - this was one of my last purchases from Axel and had been on the shelf for a while.

[tele1962]

Demons (Synapse) , stunning. It doesn't get much better than this.

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by tele1962

Demons (Synapse) , stunning. It doesn't get much better than this.

Goddammit! Wish I could afford them.

[Dave Boy]

Usually considered a bit of a turkey of a film, but it really is not that bad. Could have been a hell of a lot better, but it is still worth checking out. Sort of a Mad Max meets sci-fi movie. Come to think of it it would probably have been a better Mad Max III ! Could do with a good release now in 3D. It might actually get a bit of cult status......................maybe ?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Satanic Rites of Dracula. (1974)

This isn't a review of the film, more an observation of the discs. I watched this last night as i'd just picked up Mill Creek's Undead Vampire Collection and couldn't decide what to watch.

I noticed the picture was fine but had one or two major instances of print damage - it seemed to be snowing on occassions. It made me wonder if my other version of the film from BCI Eclipse had the same damage as i didn't remember there being any. It also went under the US title of Count Dracula and his Vampire Bride.

Sure enough the BCI version is a much cleaner print, and goes under the title The Satanic Rites of Dracula. However despite being a cleaner print than the Mill Creek version, on a 42" screen it seemed a softer print with less natural colours. The Mill Creek release, despite the damage looked a lot sharper. I've tried to show examples but VCI Player isn't good enough for the job.

The first pic in sequence is the BCI release with the Mill Creek second.