What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Susan Foreman]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I've had great sleep though. Nine and a half hours straight through last night.

Originally Posted by gag

Nine and half hours .. Wish I could that's almost 2days sleep for me

Even worse when I'm working ..

When I'm in bed, I have someone who snores L-O-U-D-L-Y to the left of me, and a cat that always wants attention, or feeding, or to go outside to the right of me

I'm lucky if I get 5 hours a night, and it is really starting to tell on my health and well-being!

[Frankenhooker]

I normally only get four or five hours a night, I've been the same since I was a teenager, in fact, if I get more than five hours I feel sluggish for the rest of the day which is strange I suppose.

My father is the same.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Frankenhooker

I normally only get four or five hours a night, I've been the same since I was a teenager, in fact, if I get more than five hours I feel sluggish for the rest of the day which is strange I suppose.

My father is the same.

Yes kinda exactly how I am ...
But all I ever get of my mum is , its because you sleep during day , you don't try to sleep , or some other comment , some people just don't get it and no matter what you explain they think they know why

[gag]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

When I'm in bed, I have someone who snores L-O-U-D-L-Y to the left of me, and a cat that always wants attention, or feeding, or to go outside to the right of me

I'm lucky if I get 5 hours a night, and it is really starting to tell on my health and well-being!

Grab the cat and put it at side of the person snoring and let cat annoy them or dig they in the ribs or something

I'm lucky I have a whole bed to myself with no pets .

But generally if I'm a deep sleep I'm 100% dead to the world and nothing can wake me up, not even if you threw a party next to me .

Or go sleep on settee and lock door so cat no choice to torment them..

If all that fails get rid of both

[Cinematic Shocks]

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)

I'm not ashamed to admit I enjoy this film.

*** out of *****

Can't go wrong with some early Steven Seagal. Everything up to and including 'Under Siege', is very enjoyable, cheesy, action martial arts entertainment. Things started going downhill after that.

Above the Law (1988)

*** out of *****

Hard to Kill (1990)

*** out of *****

[Stephen@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Cinematic Shocks

Harley Davidson and the Marlboro Man (1991)



Above the Law (1988)



Hard to Kill (1990)

You can't go wrong with any of those.

"It's better to be dead and cool, than alive and uncool"

[Frankie Teardrop]

AFTER LAST SEASON – Well, what the f*ck is this, really? Whereas some flicks strain to seem dream-like and odd only to come across as exotic as a day-trip to Wilko's, 'After Last Season' will effortlessly make your mind feel like it's being sucked down a malevolent cosmic drain. There is a backstory to 'After Last Season' which is fascinating and ultimately as enigmatic as the film itself, but it's too involved to go into here, so, do some research if you're interested. As for what ALS is about... OK, the gist of it concerns two medical students who seem to work for a sinister sounding corporation, and who try out a new telepathic technique in an attempt to investigate some killings which have been happening on campus. The killer is identified as a ghost, but then it turns out that it's all a dream anyway. You won't care if that's a spoiler or not, because there is a ghost involved after all, only it appears more interested in giving dry information about how it can move a spirit level than killing people, leaving the actual murderer to be revealed in an utterly underwhelming 'climax'. My synopsis probably makes ALS sound at least a bit weird, but trust me, we haven't even scratched the surface. For one thing, there's the sets – they're utterly threadbare. There's what's supposed to be an MRI scanner, and it looks like a ring of cardboard. The rooms where all the 'action' takes place are like those of a management suite undergoing repairs, harshly lit by someone who knows even less about that kind of stuff than I. The performances take this strangeness up a notch - characters deliver long, disinterested monologues about trivia whilst looking as dynamic as corpses. But the really weird, unnerving aspect of 'After Last Season' is the way it constantly cuts away from people and actions to show static objects – fittings, walls, corners, doors. Or better still, signs – arrows, diagrams, or sequential arrays of A4 paper bearing no apparent messages. Just weird. What can it possibly mean? And of course, there's the ultra primitive CGI dream sequence ghost bit, but I can't even bring myself to describe that. I've seen plenty of bizarre films, but never have I been left so baffled. The jury's out on whether 'After Last Season' is an avant-garde prank, a genuine piece of outsider art or the outcome of a complicated situation and some bad decisions. But for me, beyond the goofiness of the bad sets and stilted acting it captures a really chilly, alien state of mind. I don't think it's available on DVD any more, but can be found on YouTube.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Black Sunday (1976)

John Frankenheimer's classic 70's thriller about a terrorist plot to blow up 80.000 people at the Super Bowl using a GoodYear blimp.

Although there are one or two action sequences including a notable chase in Miami, Frankenheimer explores obsession with a chilling portrait of a deranged Vietnam veteran as played by Bruce Dern. The film isn't just one man's lunacy though. It deals with terrorism in Beiruit and on American soil. Robert Shaw plays an Israeli counter terrorist agent attempting to track down a female bomber who relocates to the United States. The pieces all fall into place, culminating in a completely gripping final forty minutes featuring some excellent stunt work in one of cinema's more unusual chase set pieces.

Whilst perhaps not as essential as The French Connection or in my opinion, Ronin, Black Sunday is still a prime Frankenheimer thriller and a classic of 70's cinema.

Recommended.

[Cinematic Shocks]

Marked for Death (1990)

*** out of *****

Out for Justice (1991)

My personal favourite Seagal flick.

*** out of *****

Seagal's best fight sequence...

Under Siege (1992)

*** out of *****

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016)

Following the day-glo Gothic majesty of Tim Burton's Batman, the 60's cartoon like thrills of Joel Schumacher's films and the deadly serious nature of Chris Nolan's Batman trilogy comes Batman v Superman. A comic book brought to life on the screen.

Except under the watchful eye of director Zak Snyder it's a comic book that's been left outside in the paper collection, been pissed on by the elements until it was a soggy mess before getting trampled on by an unaware bin man before Snyder spotted he'd lost his favourite comic book, saved it from the crusher and tried his hand at putting the pages back together. However it seems poor old Zak wasn't as familiar with his beloved comic book as he thought he was because he put the pages back together in the wrong order making the story incoherent and jumbled.

It's not often a film of this ilk get's it's casting decisions so wrong. Ben Affleck, whilst fine as a grizzled Bruce Wayne is fairly faceless as Batman (Oh and what's with the god awful Batsuit?), all i can say about Jesse Eisenberg's Lex Luthor is Jesus wept! Gal Gadot in little more than a cameo as Diana Prince was fine but as Wonder Woman she came across as small, Wonder Woman is an Amazonian princess and we canall picture exactly what they look like and Gadot never comes into the thinking. Only Henry Cavill does alright as Superman but then it was his second outing as the character, and Jeremy Irons brings a bit of cynical world weariness as Wayne's trusty aide, Alfred.

The film is so full of flaws it makes the teeth grind, without boring you i'll just mention one of them. Throughout the movie Batman hates Superman and wants to kill him. When he's finally about to plunge a Kryptonian rod into Superman's chest to deliver that fatal wound he discovers Superman's mother had the same name - Martha - as his mother...low and behold everything stops in it's tracks and everything's right in the DC superhero world. This may not seem much to someone reading this, but the film and script is riddled to the point of silliness with such flaws.

The final half hour was an inexcusable cluster**** of unoriginal creature design, terrible CGI and seen it all before, destroy everything action. So much so that it took the main theme from the earlier part of the film - the cost to human life of Superman's actions - and laughed in it's face by destroying city block after city block of Metropolis. It proved such a mess i wasn't even aware said CGI beastie was supposedly Doomsday until the credits rolled.

I will say one thing. It must be difficult to make a brilliant Superman film in the 21st century. The Christopher Reeve films, Superman and Superman II are as much as you need really before you realize the Man of Steel can't be killed except by Kryptonite, so unless film makers continue down the same road all they can really do is match the comic strips and throw planets at him. To me and many others, including the makers of the long running and highly successful series Smallville, Superman's success is not in being Superman but in being Clark Kent and discovering his powers, because once he finally becomes Superman then that's the interesting part of his story concluded.

Absolutely ridiculous at times with the odd touch of quality. Perversely i actually enjoyed this because my expectations were so low and for all it's sloppiness there are one or two very good moments. It's also infinitely superior to The Green Lantern (2011) so isn't quite at the bottom of the barrel when it comes to DC Superhero madness.