What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

The Moon Over the Alley (1976)



Duffer's B-side, The Moon Over the Alley is an often surreal musical exploring the problems of the multicultural residents in a Notting Hill boarding house.

As many of you know musicals and me mix like oil and water so it was with great trepidation that I delved into this one head-first and within the first few minutes was 'treated' to some musical numbers and which saw myself toying with the idea of switching it off and putting something else on instead. However, luckily for silly little me my brain made me persevere. What I got was a strange but charming yet at times dark tale of struggle, turmoil, but ultimately community spirit through kinship of a cross-section of working class Londoners in the 1970s. All this is interspersed with the surreal - the musical numbers not withstanding - overall providing you with a mish-mash of emotional emittance ranging from comfort to despair once the credits roll. Just like life really.

This shouldn't work and I shouldn't like it but it does and I do... very much so in fact.



76/100

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

After (2012)

When two bus crash survivors awake to discover that they are the only people left in their town, they work together to unravel the truth behind the strange events.

Although well made and featuring some good fx including creatures that reminded me of Lickers from Resident Evil, After is so damn predictable.

The two survivors played by Karolina Wydra and Steven Strait didn't have any chemistry and i never found them likable or believable meaning i didn't care what or why things were playing out as they did. What had happened all became so painfully obvious when they walked into a restaurant populated with townsfolk and saw themselves in scenes from their own lives whilst no one in the restaurant could see or hear them as they wandered about bemused. This happened more than once and just became tedious.

Had this serious plot give away happened towards the end then it could be forgiven perhaps but not after a mere half an hour.

Come the conclusion i wondered exactly who the film was aimed at because any horror fan would have been able to work this out like myself so easily.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Jason and the Argonauts (1963)

*** out of ****

[Rik]

Just finished watching it myself, one of my favourite films from when I was a kid

[Cinematic Shocks]

Originally Posted by Rik

Just finished watching it myself, one of my favourite films from when I was a kid

BBC2 right. I love all the old Ray Harryhausen stuff.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Cinematic Shocks

BBC2 right. I love all the old Ray Harryhausen stuff.

Yeah, been meaning to pick up the blu ray for ages

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Mummy's Tomb (1942)

A high priest travels to America with the living mummy Kharis (Lon Chaney Jr) to kill all those who had desecrated the tomb of the Egyptian princess Ananka thirty years earlier.

The third Universal Mummy film and sequel to The Mummy's Hand. Why didn't i watch this first? It sits there on the same disc. Especially as the Mummy in this film is returning to wipe out all the survivors from the previous film.

No matter. Lon Chaney Jr takes over the bandages from Tom Tyler but seeing as he's always covered and you never see his face it's a little irrelevant who plays the mummy. For me the acting awards go to George Zucco as the high priest Andoheb, whilst the exotic Turhan Bey controls the deadly mummy in the States.

Universal horror films always have a lovely Gothic atmosphere to them yet in a way these Mummy films are all so similar in style and story line (Karloff original aside) that if you enjoy one then chances are you'll like them all.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Prometheus (2012)

Despite liking all the Alien films (Not including the awful Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem) i wouldn't call myself a huge fan of any of them so was in no rush to see Ridley Scott's return to his old stamping ground, the planet LV-223, first seen in his original Alien. I was happy to let the furore, gossip and spoilers lapse from my memory and taking it from there.

I must say i really enjoyed Prometheus. I found it intelligent, occassionally creepy and often quite compelling. Michael Fassbender's android was the star of the show but he had serious competition from Noomi Rapace. The sequence where she removes the alien parasite from her abdomen is an icky body horror treat.

Visually the film is superb. Both the planet and the crashed space craft are brilliantly realized. It was good to delve into some of the hows and why's of Giger's imagery from the very first film and find out a little about them.

Despite having a central theme of creation i didn't feel the film got bogged down with it, nor did it irritate me. The film also asked a lot of questions it didn't bother to answer but again i was enjoying the ride and this also wasn't as irritating as it could be on a second viewing perhaps.

As for the very last scene - it's what we waited for all along.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

I didn't think much of Prometheus myself, Dem.

I found it boring, overlong, poorly written and muddled. Each to their own though!

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Prometheus (2012)

I was surprised by the amount of hate this received on its theatrical release, and has continued to attract since then, as I really enjoyed it when I saw it at the cinema and found it improving with each subsequent viewing at home.

Michael Fassbender is easily the best thing about the film with one of his best performances. However, as is usual for anything directed by Ridley Scott, it is painstakingly designed and beautiful to look at – he really is a gifted 'creator of worlds'.