What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Totally agree with your re: The Keep, Dem. A wasted opportunity for sure.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Kingdom Come (2014)

When it came to a quick review i remembered Keirarts had written about it recently so decided to revisit his words.

A group of people wake up in an abandoned mental asylum with amnesia. Trying to find their way out they realise they are being hunted by something, also it appears that each of them might be there for a reason.
Essentially anyone with a working knowledge of horror films will know exactly where this is going, however the journey is reasonably entertaining and quite dark in places. It gets silly occasionally but overall reasonably shot, middle of the road horror that will probably end up in poundland by October.

It's a very fair assessment as well. Kingdom Come is a decent watch. It's nothing new, the denouement regarding the hows and whys regarding how the group got there is very Saw like, not that this is a bad thing it isn't, it's nicely thought out.

The film could nave been a bit gorier and had a tighter plot with some cleverer editing. There's one scene where a young woman recognizes a man who sexually abused her as a child but the film then cuts away and we don't revisit that scenario for at least half an hour as we concentrate on lesser situations. Thus any tension built up is well and truly lost, it's the same for all the characters.

The film features some rather cool demon like creations who follow what may be the devil around the abandoned hospital, but not enough is seen of them in suspenseful situations to make you feel over enthusiastic towards them.

All said, Kingdom Come is a worthy effort, but it could and perhaps should have been better.

[keirarts]

Deadpool

Essentially if your at all aware of Deadpool then this film pretty much nails the character and erases the taint of Green Lantern from Ryan Reynolds CV. Deadpool began life as almost the epitome of 90's comic book superheroes, a sarcastic ninja in an era where everyone had lots of pouches on their uniform, and clutching a massive gun classed as being a superhero. The character was created by Rob Liefield who is something of a joke these days, an artist unable to draw feet. Eventually someone got given the character who decided to take him and really try something new and Deadpool the legend began, a self aware, vulgar, pop culture obsessed motor-mouth and killing machine and the only person in the Marvel universe to know he's a comic book character.
Echoing previous reviews on here, the film is hysterically funny and incredibly violent from the get go. It had most of the audience I sat with in stitches. Some people complain online it was too vulgar, well f*** them, this is probably going to end up as one of the 10 best films this year at this rate.

The wolfpack

An absolutely mesmerising documentary that actually lives up to the good word of mouth and positive reviews online. A family of boys who have barely left their New York apartment since birth, raised on a diet of films which they re-enact with a camcorder. While there has been some negative effects on the boys is actually more of a mixed bag, as discovering the real world it appears they cope rather well and have developed a strong creative streak. Worth checking out if you get the chance

Think I'll give cloud atlas a chance....

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Young Man With a Horn (1950)

Gripping drama showing a boy develop into a man with a real flair for the trumpet, but the desperate search for that elusive high note that would put him up with the the true jazz greats and the fateful meeting with Lauren Bacall's sultry dame send him off the rails and into a spiral of drink and depression.

I really didn't know what to expect with Young Man With a Horn. Knowing it was directed by Casablanca's Michael Curtiz promised good things i just didn't know how good.

Kirk Douglas is excellent as Rick, the red-hot trumpeter, as is Bacall, who by now does the film noir style broad to a tee, all husky voiced and positively smoldering. Doris Day almost steals the film playing a Broadway singer who befriends Douglas and who's voice almost outshines the jazz accompaniment.

As for the score, well if you like jazz it's superb. Hoagy Carmichael, bandleader, songwriter and pianist also stars in this film and adds a touch of class to an already excellent film. Douglas at one point plays a version of Silent Night in a down and dirty mob run joint one Christmas Eve and it's the highlight of the film. Dirty, smoky... a single jazz trumpet...film noir heaven. Naturally it's not actually Kirk Douglas playing the trumpet, that honour is dubbed on by legendary trumpeter and band leader Harry James.

Young Man With a Horn is a dark, noirish drama. Highly recommended.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE INVASION – Another updating of ‘Invasion of the Bodysnatchers’, this time with Nicole Kidman as a psychiatrist who starts to panic when all around her gradually turn from warm blooded humans to cold, depersonalised drones. Daniel Craig is at hand as Kidman’s slightly dull scientist fancy-man, and the two make their way through the inevitable slew of tiresome chase scenes, ‘tense’ moments where we’re questioning who has or hasn’t ‘turned’, and passages of exposition delivered with a clunk, a microscope and a bad CGI close up of some alien microbes looking a bit menacing around red blood cells. If I sound a little dismissive, well that’s because I’m being a little dismissive. That’s not to say ‘The Invasion’ is a total waste of time, as it’s well made and not badly paced. There are some effective moments and images that stick in the mind – zombiefied caterers throwing up space virus into drinks, transformation prosthetics that are eyeless and harrowing. But it squanders a measured, effectively paranoid build up on a load of pointless running around, not to mention a mind blowingly cheesy feel good ending, where we’re told basically everything’s going to be OK because the good guys have found an antidote to this alien infection nonsense and, well, no-one can even remember what happened to them when they went all detached and weird, so, like, what’s the problem, everything’s amazing. It’s as if some sadistic Hollywood exec was sat crouched in front of Kaufman’s 1978 classic, thinking “Nihilistic dystopia with absolutely no hope for humanity! Bloody hell, that’s all anybody ever wants! Every time! Well, F*CK ‘EM ALL!” As I write these words, I’m tempted to go back and revisit it just in case I missed something… not the whole film though, don’t think I’ll be watching that for quite a while.

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL – Another remake, the original being by William Castle and starring Vincent Price – I’ve never seen it. This one is about an abandoned asylum for the criminally insane, where Jeff Combes went rampant with his lobotomy kit years ago and ended up being given a major bollocking (ie was brutally murdered) by a bunch of bad homicidal mad person stereotypes. Not going to get too hung up over that as this announced itself as pure flotsam from the get go. Although, a few further quibbles aside, it turned out to be quite enjoyable in the end. Back to the ahem ‘plot’…the rich wife of a Vincent Price semi-lookalike roller coaster entrepreneur (!!!) decides she’s going to spend her birthday overnight at said abandoned asylum, and a load of seemingly random people are invited to join her. There’s some backstory about plots and murderous schemes, but this is essentially a supernatural horror where the vengeful spirits of the dead self righteously knock everybody off one by one. Back to quibbles - negatives? There are quite a few downsides. The major one for me was that there was just too much wandering around and talking in the first half. It’s generally a real turn off for me in a film this ‘functional’ i.e function: to entertain with an onslaught of crudely rendered B movie horror, as opposed to intrigue with the artful rendering of character and the delicate layering of atmosphere. Another other big gripe was that Combes was wasted, wasn’t in it much at all and could’ve provided a welcome blast of that overbearingly pompous megalomania he does so well. However, the second half of the film takes a more carnivalesque turn and lays on some nice grotesque moments and images, including ‘Jacobs Ladder’ type messed up faces and the trippy entity at the end, a bad CGI gestalt being made up of ever mutating spirit forms. It’s not massively exploitative, but there’s some gore and nudity, some freaky dream-type sequences, and I was at least vaguely entertained by the whole V Price lookalike thing. ‘House On Haunted Hill’ isn’t movie gold, but, when it picks up, is an amusingly trashy mainstream horror flick with plenty to recommend it at the level of basic schlock.

NOT SAFE FOR WORK - From the director of ‘Captain America’, but this is a decidedly lower key, lower budgeted number. A smart alec intern gets fired from a law firm, only to find himself trapped in his office after hours with a hit man. Cue much cat and mouse and a couple of twists. Basic in plot but strong in terms of suspense and lean, economically delivered thrills, ‘Not Safe For Work’ is well played and holds together nicely, and pretty much never lets up. Some of the moves it makes aren’t exactly fresh, but are overshadowed by a tension that gnaws. It’s one of those films which hooks you – there’s something quite bare bones about the characters and the scenario, but there’s just this muscular momentum that won’t let go. I really liked it. I don’t quite know why, but for me it had the feel of something like ‘The Hitcher’ – not because of any overt similarities, but maybe just by being quite minimal but still finding ways to ramp up tension. Recommended.

[keirarts]

Cloud atlas

I have to admit that I actually enjoy the Wachowski's output. I'm one of ten humans that admit to liking Matrix revolutions and loaded, and out of that I'm one of the few not living in a bin and wearing a tin foil hat. Still, I find myself cautious when approaching their films. I'm glad I missed out on speed racer at the cinema as it didn't really do the show justice and Jupiter ascending is sat on my shelf unwatched. So it was with a degree of apprehension I decided to stick this on.
Co-directed by Tom Tykwer from a novel that I've never actually read, Cloud Atlas is an ambitious but flawed tale that spans thousands of years of human history, from the sea voyage of a slave trader, a parallax view style thriller about big oil, a composer constructing his masterpiece, a literary agent who ends up imprisoned in a care home, a blade runner sci-fi about artificial intelligence and corporate slavery and a post apocalypse style thriller. Various characters are re-incarnated versions themselves that play either large and small roles in each and actions in one story ripple through to the next in unexpected ways. Essentially its a film that shows how the actions of individuals can affect the future in unexpected ways, and how our lives can transcend our life span.
That it bombed at the box-office is a shame, its not a perfect film. In fact it ultimately doesn't really do what it sets out to do as well as it could have. However, I have a soft spot for overblown and self indulgent sci-fi spectaculars and it worked well enough for me. Certainly it made me think about the film after it was done and I may even return to it at some point. I might dig out Jupiter ascending and give it a go.

[Vipp]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Cloud atlas

I have to admit that I actually enjoy the Wachowski's output. I'm one of ten humans that admit to liking Matrix revolutions and loaded, and out of that I'm one of the few not living in a bin and wearing a tin foil hat.

Man that's strange! two of us on one forum! well I say two of us... I have a spare tin hat for you mate if you ever feel like avoiding any unwanted radio waves but apart from that I'm agreeing with you here. nice review mate.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL – Another remake, the original being by William Castle and starring Vincent Price – I’ve never seen it.

You really should, Frankie. It's a bit of a creaky gem and i'm sure you'll have it at least five times on all those Mill Creek box sets you probably own.

[Frankie Teardrop]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

You really should, Frankie. It's a bit of a creaky gem and i'm sure you'll have it at least five times on all those Mill Creek box sets you probably own.

I know, I know. I'm a big Price fan, but when I think of it, I haven't even seen all that much of his output. And I've always meant to explore some of William Castle, but pre seventies horror is a bit of a blind spot for me. Which is my loss, as plenty of the kind of messed up trash I tend to go on about went down in the fifties and sixties ie half the stuff on 'Something Weird' of yore. Must fix my attitude. Somehow I managed to avoid accumulating too many of those Mill Creek sets, much to my regret as there was one that I really wanted that tends to go for £ridiculous these days.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Cloud atlas

I have to admit that I actually enjoy the Wachowski's output. I'm one of ten humans that admit to liking Matrix revolutions and loaded, and out of that I'm one of the few not living in a bin and wearing a tin foil hat. Still, I find myself cautious when approaching their films. I'm glad I missed out on speed racer at the cinema as it didn't really do the show justice and Jupiter ascending is sat on my shelf unwatched. So it was with a degree of apprehension I decided to stick this on.
Co-directed by Tom Tykwer from a novel that I've never actually read, Cloud Atlas is an ambitious but flawed tale that spans thousands of years of human history, from the sea voyage of a slave trader, a parallax view style thriller about big oil, a composer constructing his masterpiece, a literary agent who ends up imprisoned in a care home, a blade runner sci-fi about artificial intelligence and corporate slavery and a post apocalypse style thriller. Various characters are re-incarnated versions themselves that play either large and small roles in each and actions in one story ripple through to the next in unexpected ways. Essentially its a film that shows how the actions of individuals can affect the future in unexpected ways, and how our lives can transcend our life span.
That it bombed at the box-office is a shame, its not a perfect film. In fact it ultimately doesn't really do what it sets out to do as well as it could have. However, I have a soft spot for overblown and self indulgent sci-fi spectaculars and it worked well enough for me. Certainly it made me think about the film after it was done and I may even return to it at some point. I might dig out Jupiter ascending and give it a go.

Don't live in a bin. Don't have a tin hat. Love Matrix Reloaded and quite like Revolutions.
Cloud Atlas is also very good if you have patience with it.
Jupiter Ascending on the other hand i turned off after half hour or so. I can't help thinking it deserves another go but it just seemed to be nonsense.