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  #30861  
Old 27th December 2014, 11:08 PM
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Merry Xmas everyone -managed to cram in a few this week

The Lady From Shanghai - My fav Welles movie - there's a wonderful dreamlike flow to this, from the soundtrack (torch songs, tiki tiki, flamenco - it's Tarantino before he was conceived) to the show stopping, breathtaking set pieces to the sheer star power of Rita Haywoth, I just love this film. it lives in Kane's shadow but is tighter, stranger and somehow more timeless - check it out.

To Have and Have Not - Pretty much Casablanca's little brother - Bogie a cynical loner who ends up fighting the Nazis despite himself - sound familiar? I miss the strength in depth of Lorre, Raines and Greenstreet but what a front two in Bogart and Bacall. It's beautifully shot and the musical numbers are cool personified - oh to be in this bar drinking bourbon, fag in hand. Superior Hollywood in its greatest period, enough said.

Oblivion - While since I've seen a Cruise movie, but nothing much has changed. This is one of those hypocritical contemporary movies that predicates and justifies human survival on its cultural, artistic yearnings while at the same time being an incarnation of the exact opposite - a pretty picture, dialogue dumb CGI cash grab. OK for its type but that's not saying too much.

The Fantastic Mr Fox - I put this off for ages because I love Wes Anderson and didn't fancy him spending movie making time doing a kids film - more fool me, it's brilliant, actually indistinguishable from the rest of his oeuvre in terms of dialogue, look, music - everything in fact, bar species type. Great stuff.

The Woman in Black (1989) - I needed a late night Xmas night creep out - where else to turn but this sadly buried and forgotten masterpiece. The remake was over set designed to within an inch of its life (hey let's have 60 creepy dolls!) but this gets it right - 5 appearances by the WiB every one of them terrifying (especially no. 4 which is in my top 5 nightmare inducing what the f*** moments in cinema)) - I would LOVE Arrow to get their hands on this, one of the truly great ghost stories.

Stagecoach - Phenomenal western - the climactic chase with its unbelievable non trickshot stunt work has moe excitement than the entirety of Oblivion. It's a funny, exciting, melancholy movie and essential viewing whether you like Westerns or not.

Last edited by Handyman Joe; 27th December 2014 at 11:24 PM.
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  #30862  
Old 27th December 2014, 11:11 PM
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American Hustle (2013)

I really didn't get on with this film. I didn't find the characters engaging and the long con story line never grabbed me.

From the off i was teetering on the brink of boredom due to the dialogue heavy screenplay that used twenty words where three would suffice. Only a killer soundtrack and Amy Adams plunging dresses made American Hustle any bit memorable.

The Grifters this is not.

Disappointing.
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  #30863  
Old 27th December 2014, 11:36 PM
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THE DORM. Made for TV bilge that rips off and riffs off Rosemary's Baby and The Tenant which sounds great but this is a long trip to snoozeland with no buffet car.

PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2. Like the first one with added dog and baby. This is a lean, well made exercise in jump cinema that reminded me of engineering rather than any form of art. I enjoyed it.

FRIDAY 13th PART 7. Bonkers shit with a girl who can not only move shit with her mind, she can also resurrect the dead! It worked for Jesus but doesn't seem so effective here with Jason.

FRIDAY 13th PART 8. Loved all the rat infested New York tomfoolery that book end this late entry into the series that goes all Swallows and Amazons on a boat. I'm never sure on a film that has a dog in it as the most sympathetic character.

DAMNED BY DAWN. Sort of an Irish EVIL DEAD set in Australia with a ton of dry ice and CGI fog cloaking almost every scene . I especially like the scene where the awful CGI flying dead kind of plopped into a car windscreen looking for all the world like horse shit being thrown against a wall.

HALLOWEEN 6. Gleefully mad in every sense of the word and hugely enjoyable.

TOWER BLOCK. A sniper is killing the residents on the top floor of a tower block. It you set aside the reveal on who the killer is and how the hell he set all of this up in one night, this is a pretty impressive little thriller that is worth a look.

MY BABYSITTER IS A VAMPIRE. Sub Buffy comedy aimed squarely at the pre-teen market that myself and the girl MTDS both enjoyed. We are presently working our way through the spin off TV show which ain't so good but the little MTDSs are enjoying.

HALO 4: FORWARD UNTO DAWN. I was forced to watch this with the boy MTDS as it is rated 15 and he is only 7, so that I could stop it if I felt it was unsuitable. It's PG at best and boring as hell and takes well over half it's running time before shit blows up. We broke the boredom by taking in turns giving each other dead arms.

GOOD BURGER. Jesus wept.

MY SOUL TO TAKE. He's still crying.

SNAKEHEAD SWAMP. Pass him a hankie.
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  #30864  
Old 27th December 2014, 11:41 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly View Post
PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 2. Like the first one with added dog and baby. This is a lean, well made exercise in jump cinema that reminded me of engineering rather than any form of art. I enjoyed it.
So are these films actually watchable?

I'd always avoided them like i would if i saw Ron in the street.
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  #30865  
Old 27th December 2014, 11:57 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs View Post
So are these films actually watchable?

I'd always avoided them like i would if i saw Ron in the street.
Not sure if you would like them but they are highly effective machines for making you jump. The first one is an exercise in nothingness, quite literally nothing happens until the closing frames yet somehow I was glued to the TV just watching people potter around their house. The second one is much more structured with a great use of space and depth which had me constantly scanning the screen to search for the next thing to happen. I've not seen the others but from what I've read they aren't so good.
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  #30866  
Old 27th December 2014, 11:58 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Make Them Die Slowly View Post
Not sure if you would like them but they are highly effective machines for making you jump. The first one is an exercise in nothingness, quite literally nothing happens until the closing frames yet somehow I was glued to the TV just watching people potter around their house. The second one is much more structured with a great use of space and depth which had me constantly scanning the screen to search for the next thing to happen. I've not seen the others but from what I've read they aren't so good.
I'll give them a whirl in the new year. Hopefully they won't be as bad as Grave Encounters or that Mila Jovovich film i can't remember the name of.

I expect you can probably pick them up on Amazon marketplace for the price of postage.
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  #30867  
Old 28th December 2014, 12:07 AM
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Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs View Post
I'll give them a whirl in the new year. Hopefully they won't be as bad as Grave Encounters or that Mila Jovovich film i can't remember the name of.

I expect you can probably pick them up on Amazon marketplace for the price of postage.
More BLAIR WITCH than GRAVE ENCOUNTERS, minimal special effects other than the odd cupboard door opening and a shadow here and there. I got the first one for 1p from Amazon and watched the second on Netflix.
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  #30868  
Old 28th December 2014, 01:49 AM
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Peter Medak's The Changeling. An effective and overlooked ghost story from 1980. Recently widowed composer John Russel (George C.Scott) relocates from New York to Seattle and straight into an obviously dodgy old house.
There's nothing particularly new here but it is nearly 35 years old, come to think of it this is really the kind of movie that all our Sinister/Insidious/Conjuring's are trying to be. Only thing that let it down a little was George C.Scott seeming to old for the part, not to say his performance isn't very good.
Really got under my skin this one though and well worth a go if you get chance.
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  #30869  
Old 28th December 2014, 08:54 AM
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Are you there?.

Previously released as I am ZOZO. Not normally a good sign when a film is re-titled and re-packaged then sold again. This film, about a group of teens who fool around with a ouija board and release something evil is a slight, very low-rent film. It's shot on 8mm which gives it a real rough home video sort of look and its not a found footage movie so two things there endeared the film to me from the get go. It's a flawed film for sure and not a great deal happens, kids go to an island getaway, muck about with the board something sinister is unleashed and then it ends.. I still enjoyed it more than I probably should of. Its sort of like UNHINGED, I should hate it but its got an olde worlde feel to it, some nice music and its pretty much unlike most of the other DTV horrors i've seen lately. I paid 50p for this, my advice don't pay any more for a quid then trade it in to CEX for £4 which i'm going to do!

The Realm

Pretty much the kind of film I was saying ARE YOU THERE wasn't. A found footage film where a group of idiots forget to say goodbye when using the board causing a bunch of evil shit to get released. The found footage method here falls apart pretty quickly, people are filming what's going on in situations no one would EVER be carrying a camera, some stuff is just plain pointless. At one point the film forgets entirely its found footage and cuts to a flashback to reveal the films back story. The ending is frankly stupid beyond belief.

The Game.

David Fincher takes a twisty, pulpy Hollywood thriller that in most hands would be daft as hell and manages to craft something interesting. Much like GONE GIRL the source material has twists that would ordinarily stretch the films credibility to breaking point, in the wrong hands this might mean a film that ends up being good for one watch only. The Game however is transformed into a San Francisco set thriller that harks back to the paranoid thrillers of the 70's. The setting really helps sell this and the casting of Michael Douglas (who was in the TV series Streets of San Francisco) as the curmudgeonly businessman who gets the cosmic blow to the head he much needed from the Game. The use of Jefferson Airplanes WHITE RABBIT helps point back to the cities counter culture roots and prety much sums up the tone of the film.
The Criterion transfer is excellent and i've not seen the film look so good since I saw it at my local flea pit (now sadly long since demolished) back in 97'


The Interview.

Screw you North Korea! question is, is the film actually any good? Yes and no. If you like pineapple express and This is the end then you will enjoy this, if not then this is best avoided. Like the previous films there's a lot of dick and sex jokes, plenty of drugs references, some over the top violence and general juvenile stupidity. I like this sort of shit done right so I got a kick out of this, if Sony regain their balls and release it I may even buy the damned film. That said, given Sony Uk's weird reluctance to sell films to consumers in this country its likely they will end up dumping this on Twilight time, I'll be at work or in bed when it goes live and then it'll be a case of £300 plus on ebay. Its not worth that.
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  #30870  
Old 28th December 2014, 10:27 AM
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THE CHANGELING Japanese Blu Ray.
Unfortunately Studio Canal have dropped the ball with this one.

Remember Arrow's appalling Tenebrae transfer first time round?

It's on a par with that....
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