What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[demonknight]

Videodrome - 1983

Cronenberg's masterpiece, I reckon! I'm not overly au fait with his body of work, but I think this is his crowning achievement. Deborah Harry and James Woods were spot on. Gonna have to re-visit some of his earlier work. Maybe then, the 'crowning achievement' moniker may move house, from Videodrome to possibly 'Shivers', 'Dead Ringers' or 'The Dead Zone'.

[Nordicdusk]

Originally Posted by demonknight

Videodrome - 1983

Cronenberg's masterpiece, I reckon! I'm not overly au fait with his body of work, but I think this is his crowning achievement. Deborah Harry and James Woods were spot on. Gonna have to re-visit some of his earlier work. Maybe then, the 'crowning achievement' moniker may move house, from Videodrome to possibly 'Shivers', 'Dead Ringers' or 'The Dead Zone'.

Videodrome is my favourite Cronenberg film closely followed by The Dead Zone. Christopher Walken is outstanding in The Dead Zone.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by demonknight

Videodrome - 1983

Cronenberg's masterpiece, I reckon! I'm not overly au fait with his body of work, but I think this is his crowning achievement. Deborah Harry and James Woods were spot on. Gonna have to re-visit some of his earlier work. Maybe then, the 'crowning achievement' moniker may move house, from Videodrome to possibly 'Shivers', 'Dead Ringers' or 'The Dead Zone'.

Originally Posted by Nordicdusk

Videodrome is my favourite Cronenberg film closely followed by The Dead Zone. Christopher Walken is outstanding in The Dead Zone.

I consider Dead Ringers to be his best film and, incidentally, features Jeremy Irons' best performance.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Mummy's Ghost (1944) / The Mummy's Curse (1944)

The fourth and fifth and indeed final films in the regular Universal Mummy series. Lon Chaney plays Kharis the mummy in both films which oddly continue on from one another even though the action swings from Massachusetts to Louisiana. The reason it's odd is because Kharis apparently dies in the Massachusetts swamps but is resurrected from Louisiana swampland.

Neither film is particularly wonderful but neither are they poor either. Although never coming close to the classic Karloff original, both films feature the mummy quite heavily which is always welcome and definitely adds to their appeal. In fact The Mummy's Curse also echoes Bride of Frankenstein by having a female mummy, Ananka, played by Virginia Christine, who also rises from the swamp in a stunning sequence.

Of the two, The Mummy's Ghost wins out mainly because of an appearance by George Zucco, the fine character actor from Lancashire, as the Egyptian high priest and John Carradine as Yousef Bey the sinister controller of Kharis the mummy.

Whilst neither film breaks any new ground they are both entertaining and their 61 minute running times ensure there is no need for any filler and both zip along at a fair pace.

[Demoncrat]

No love for The Brood??
Oh well.......

Watched
Big Sky(2015, Jorge Micheal Grau)
Agoraphobic teen and mum travel to a treatment centre. From the director of We Are What We Are. Whilst twas nice to see Frank Grillo channelling Steve Railsback, the film itself is in flux. Is it a serious look at a crippling condition? No. Is it a thriller? well, you decide......

Spectre (2015, Sam Mendes)
Worst Bond Theme Ever. And after Kingsman....well, it's just not on. Though I laughed a lot with the film, it will be a while before I revisit this one. Speaking of which....

Casino Royale (2006, Martin Campbell)
Craig's debut. Another terrible theme ( I just don't like men singing the Bond Song it seems), but it held my attention throughout.

American Ultra (2015, Nima Nourizadeh)
The pair from Adventureland are happy in their little rut. Until a strange older lady turns up muttering an incomprehensible phrase, which changes everything for them.....
A hoot. It's divided a lot of folk, but they are wrong.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demoncrat

No love for The Brood??
Oh well.......

The Brood is excellent, but Videodrome is my personal fave closely followed by Dead Ringers.

I actually ranked his films a fair while ago, and it has reminded me that I STILL need to see A Dangerous Method.

[Gold6082]

As Cronenberg is being discussed and ironically I am revisiting all his films myself at the moment my top 10 in order are below,again just like Amicus anthologies it highlights how different we all are yet still a friendly group.

1. Rabid
2. The Fly
3. Videodrome
4. Dead Ringers
5. Shivers
6. The Brood
7. Scanners
8. Dead Zone
9. Existenz
10. Crash

[J Harker]

While it doesn't really feel like a Cronenberg film, i really liked A History of Violence.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Gold6082

As Cronenberg is being discussed and ironically I am revisiting all his films myself at the moment my top 10 in order are below,again just like Amicus anthologies it highlights how different we all are yet still a friendly group.

1. Rabid
2. The Fly
3. Videodrome
4. Dead Ringers
5. Shivers
6. The Brood
7. Scanners
8. Dead Zone
9. Existenz
10. Crash

Excellent list. I'll have to do my own, which will probably have Spider in the top 10; like Jeremy Irons in Dead Ringers, this features an English actor (Ralph Fiennes) giving a career-best performance.

[profondo rosso]

Housebound (netflix)

Very good romp from New Zealand with some good jump scenes and hilarious parts, reminded me of watching early Peter Jackson at times. You could do a lot worse that give this a try. Funny, atmospheric and the mother is hilarious.
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