Cult Labs

Go Back   Cult Labs > Film Discussions > General Film Discussions

Like Tree179041Likes

Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #42311  
Old 9th July 2017, 11:11 PM
SymbioticFunction's Avatar
Cultist on the Rampage
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chichester, UK.
Default

Been on holiday for the last week so my wife and I had the opportunity to work our way through all 6 discs of the UK Arrow Phantasm blu-ray boxset. I've previously complained that the set was too expensive but finally picked it up at a reduced price of £65. I am glad that I did.

The original film and the fourth film both look and sound amazing, the fifth film looks as good as possible considering source material whereas sadly, the second and third entries are very so-so in terms of PQ. Slightly annoying considering the high price but luckily the second and third films are our least favourite films from the franchise.

I'd actually like to talk about the fifth (and presumably final) film in the franchise. It started out as a multi-part short film series designed for internet show, shot over the course of several years, but ended up becoming an official Phantasm 5 film. Director David Hartman worked very closely with Don Coscarelli on this, with Coscarelli co-writing and being a part of the shooting crew.

One of the most depressing things, that I have encountered in recent times, is a lot of folks really shitting on this film. Including big Phantasm franchise fans. I think this is quite unfair. I think many people were put off by 2 things: that the film was shot digitally on fairly basic high definition cameras and that the film uses cgi which (unsurprisingly) is not of typical Hollywood standard.

My wife and I both really like part 5 - it's another ambitious dimension jumping film (like part 4 was). Parts 4 and 5 are much more ambitious with scope and imagination than the 2nd and 3rd entries. Which is interesting considering that parts 4 and 5 are by far (very much so!), the cheapest sequels of the franchise.

Phantasm Ravager is more than a decent sequel and I would recommend it to folks with an open mind. Felt a little bit sad whilst rewatching it as it's the final appearance of the Tall Man but was very pleased that Angus Scrimm/Rory Guy was still able to make a final appearance. Film score - 8/10.

btw Ravager is actually my wife's favourite Phantasm sequel.
__________________
PSN user name: suspiria-inferno
Xbox user name: suspiria742952
Reply With Quote
  #42312  
Old 9th July 2017, 11:28 PM
MrBarlow's Avatar
Cult Veteran
Good Trader
 
Join Date: Apr 2017
Location: Dundee
Blog Entries: 2
Default

RETRIBUTION 1987

Two men George and Vito born on the same day two strangers to each other, George a failing artist attempts suicide. Vito a small down crook killed by his fellow gang members. Vito's soul finds George and when he sleeps Vito awakes and looks for revenge.

This is a low budget supernatural thriller that's entertaining, and decent enough to watch. 7out of 10.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 39722_1_large.jpg (48.8 KB, 6 views)
__________________
" I have seen trees that look like tortured souls"
Reply With Quote
  #42313  
Old 9th July 2017, 11:47 PM
J Harker's Avatar
Cult Addict
 
Join Date: Feb 2012
Location: Deepest Darkest South Wales
Default

Spiderman Homecoming. Jon Watts. 2017.

Caught this in the cinema Saturday evening. Given the hype this film seems to have raised i went in with high expectations. Something we all know is often fatal. The third reboot for the iconic character sees Marvel Studios take back the reigns. And personally i think they've fuffed it up. I'm not sure i can put my finger on the problem but the plot is roughly this...
Peter Parker is Spiderman. He is a bit put out that following his somewhat contrived recruitment by Tony Stark in CA:Civil War he has since been left to his own devices in NYC. He gets tangled up with Adrian Toombes, a salvage contractor turned arms dealer who is producing weapons made from the remains of the Chitari invasion seen in Avengers Assemble. He tries to tell Stark but for the purposes of the plot his concerns fall on deaf ears. So he takes Toombes on alone. Thing is Toombes, played by a scene stealing Michael Keaton by the way, has a set of giant mechanical wings which make him a big hard bastard.
As opposed to previous Spidey movies this one takes Parker back to his mid teens. But oddly we don't bother with or need for that matter any origin story. We all know who Spiderman is and how he got there. So why does this film take so long to get going?? And why does the character seem to be but a clumsy precursor to the fully formed character we saw swooping around in Civil War? Personally I've never liked the shitty mechanical webshooters, give me Tobey Maguires organic web gland thingies any day. But here we not only have a rather halfcocked version of the character but the majority of the film seems to be set in suburbia or worse still the countryside meaning Spidermans main skills become a tad redundant. So what we get is a kid in a Spiderman costume running around. Don't get me wrong the film isn't bad but as I'm writing this I'm really struggling to come up with anything but criticism.
Of the six standalone Spiderman movies there have been in recent years this for me is the weakest. And i include Raimis Spiderman 3 in that.
Reply With Quote
  #42314  
Old 10th July 2017, 03:24 AM
SymbioticFunction's Avatar
Cultist on the Rampage
 
Join Date: May 2010
Location: Chichester, UK.
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by J Harker View Post
Of the six standalone Spiderman movies there have been in recent years this for me is the weakest. And i include Raimis Spiderman 3 in that.
Not a popular opinion but I've actually always personally liked Spiderman 3. Have always been a bit surprised by folks' huge negativity towards it. All the Sandman stuff is really great, I like seeing a darker, more arrogant side to Parker (even if Raimi unsurprisingly mostly plays it for laughs) and it also contains some great moments like Parker sloughing off the black symbiote costume in the church and quite a cool Green Goblin II . My only criticism is that Venom/Brock should have really appeared in a Lizard film for a more accurate origin of that villain.

Never liked either of the two Amazing Spiderman films despite rating the performances of Garfield and Stone. Ended up selling off my AS blu-rays and haven't regretted that decision. btw Thought that the cgi Lizard looked truly godawful in the first film, designing it to appear without a prominent snout was a terrible decision. It also surprised me that the first AS film was so popular and that a backlash only occurred when people viewed the also messy sequel. Am curious to see this latest iteration but will be waiting for a domestic release first.
__________________
PSN user name: suspiria-inferno
Xbox user name: suspiria742952
Reply With Quote
  #42315  
Old 10th July 2017, 09:27 AM
Cult Veteran
Good Trader
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: summerisle
Blog Entries: 21
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Demoncrat View Post
Just started Hercules. The Cannon one. Looks like a good un.
Tis another vhs job ... mate came back with a few more. If I get stuck in at the weekend ...
There's a Bronson comedy amongst this lot ... From Noon Til Three? Should be fun
Twas a good un. Most definitely a Cannon film
William Berger as Zeus, Ferrigno's velcro beard etc. Well worth a look. The stop motion reminded me of Dr Mordred for some reason. Will see if I can track down his Sinbad

Frostbiter: Wrath of The Wendigo (1995, Tom Chaney)
More stop motion mayhem. My favourite Evil Dead ripoff starring one of The Stooges (you wanta sub genre...you getta sub genre ). It's the age old story ... redneck idiots unleash an ancient evil, luckily a pretty girl has the answer!!
__________________
[SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

[B]
"... the days ahead will be filled with struggle ... and coated in marzipan ... "[/B]
Reply With Quote
  #42316  
Old 10th July 2017, 10:06 AM
keirarts's Avatar
Cult Addict
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Barrow-in-furness
Blog Entries: 14
Default

Spiderman homecoming.

I'm going to have to be the voice of dissent here. Homecoming isn't as good as Raimis spiderman 2, that's pretty much the definitive spidy film, however I'd say its probably a better film than the rest. Spidy one is great fun but its very poorly written, out of costume Willem Dafoe nails the Green Goblin, in costume it looks ugly and stupid. Spiderman 3 is bloated and suffers from one villain to many and studio interference. Amazing spiderman was ok but a bit bland and amazing spiderman 2 was a piece of s*** with way too much world building and an awful screenplay. Homecoming is an enjoyable superhero film, not as good as Civil war or Avengers assemble perhaps but its a lot of fun. Michael Keaton delivers possibly the best villain in the MCU to date. The vulture is not just there to serve the heroes story arc, hes a plausible, well-rounded individual with believable motivation and sympathetic to boot. Sure he ends up becoming a murderous thug in a suit but he's driven to it by greed and envy and a system that appears to be gamed against the little man.
I'm glad uncle ben's death is not covered again, its almost as predictable as seeing Bruce waynes folks getting gunned down outside the theatre. Tom Hollands Peter/spidy is possibly the best to date. Both Maguire and Garfield were solid enough but Holland is more plausible as an awkward nerd making bad decisions for good reasons which seems to be a central theme of this film.
Its to the films credit that spiderman is basically played very plausibly as what one might expect if a 15 year old kid suddenly got powers. One example is the statten island ferry scene where he busts the arms deal only for a boatload of federal agents to appear, then everything goes wrong.
for me its about 8/10 but I loathe scores.
Reply With Quote
  #42317  
Old 10th July 2017, 10:45 AM
keirarts's Avatar
Cult Addict
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Barrow-in-furness
Blog Entries: 14
Default

Man who stole the sun.

Kido is seemingly normal, if somewhat eccentric high school teacher. His students nickname him bubble and his lessons veer off from the curriculum quite a bit, mainly as he spends time lecturing the kids on nuclear physics. Netherless he appears to be an upstanding citizen, especially when he assists Inspector Yamashita (Bunta Sugawara) in foiling a terrorist who takes a busload of his students hostage. However Kido has an obsession with Nuclear weaponry that goes beyond mere eccentricity and leads to him staging a well planned robbery at a local nuclear power station where he steals some plutonium. Using his knowledge of nuclear physics and an improvised lab he sets about making a nuke. He makes two and leaves one in the diet building to prove to the Japanese government that he has a real, working nuke. with the government in the palm of his hands he makes a series of strange demands including a Rolling stones concert in Tokyo as he begins a game of cat and mouse with Yamashita as he succumbs to radiation poisoning.
Its an odd film. Perhaps a little overlong at 142 minutes, it veers from very sombre and disturbing to all out action and exploitation. It can feel a little Jarring in places. Kido's raid on the nuclear power plant feels like something from a Bond film, it also has an incredible car chase sequence and some jaw dropping stunts. It was written by Paul Schraders brother and there are echoes of Travis Bickle in the central character with his utter detachment from the real world and other people. It even briefly homages that film in once scene. If you can actually track down a copy then it comes highly reccomended.
Reply With Quote
  #42318  
Old 10th July 2017, 11:21 AM
Demdike@Cult Labs's Avatar
Cult King
Cult Labs Radio Contributor
Senior Moderator
 
Join Date: Mar 2011
Location: Lancashire
Default

Sadomania (1981)

Probably Jess Franco's most full on women in prison film. The sleaze is ramped up to the max. Everywhere are naked women either working outdoors or romping in their cells. However when you throw in a woman raped by an Alsatian, a camp turn by Franco including him enjoying BBC and the prison warden played by transsexual Ajita Wilson, who acts fine but whose body doesn't really fit the role, it all becomes a bit too silly even for Jess. Even Franco himself in the doc suggested it didn't quite end up as he'd hoped.

On the plus side there is some gorgeous outdoor photography including a fight to the death between two female prisoners on a cliff top filmed entirely in the shadow of a stunning sunset.

Sadomania ends up a (love) camp curiosity and not one of the directors better films, but then again it's certainly not his worst either.
Attached Images
File Type: jpg 0.jpg (43.4 KB, 6 views)
Reply With Quote
  #42319  
Old 10th July 2017, 04:43 PM
dis dis is offline
Seasoned Cultist
 
Join Date: Jun 2010
Location: midlands u.k
Default

hi guys, just re watched American Graffiti.
pure class imo.
keirarts and trebor8273 like this.
Reply With Quote
  #42320  
Old 10th July 2017, 06:22 PM
trebor8273's Avatar
Cult Veteran
Good Trader
 
Join Date: Jul 2011
Location: UK
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by keirarts View Post
Spiderman homecoming.

I'm going to have to be the voice of dissent here. Homecoming isn't as good as Raimis spiderman 2, that's pretty much the definitive spidy film, however I'd say its probably a better film than the rest. Spidy one is great fun but its very poorly written, out of costume Willem Dafoe nails the Green Goblin, in costume it looks ugly and stupid. Spiderman 3 is bloated and suffers from one villain to many and studio interference. Amazing spiderman was ok but a bit bland and amazing spiderman 2 was a piece of s*** with way too much world building and an awful screenplay. Homecoming is an enjoyable superhero film, not as good as Civil war or Avengers assemble perhaps but its a lot of fun. Michael Keaton delivers possibly the best villain in the MCU to date. The vulture is not just there to serve the heroes story arc, hes a plausible, well-rounded individual with believable motivation and sympathetic to boot. Sure he ends up becoming a murderous thug in a suit but he's driven to it by greed and envy and a system that appears to be gamed against the little man.
I'm glad uncle ben's death is not covered again, its almost as predictable as seeing Bruce waynes folks getting gunned down outside the theatre. Tom Hollands Peter/spidy is possibly the best to date. Both Maguire and Garfield were solid enough but Holland is more plausible as an awkward nerd making bad decisions for good reasons which seems to be a central theme of this film.
Its to the films credit that spiderman is basically played very plausibly as what one might expect if a 15 year old kid suddenly got powers. One example is the statten island ferry scene where he busts the arms deal only for a boatload of federal agents to appear, then everything goes wrong.
for me its about 8/10 but I loathe scores.
have to agree Holland is the best spidey/Peter Parker and Keaton was a excellent villain who as mentioned you felt sympathy for, unlike Harker i liked that spidey was out of his "element" that he just couldn't swing every place which is a lot more realistic as even in new york, their are vast areas which web swinging would be impossible. me i always liked that he made his own web fluid, which shows how intelligent he is , something the last two films never had, he was just some skinny average guy. a lot better than spider-man 3. This is were i would place it.


Spiderman 2
Spiderman
Homecoming
Amazing Spiderman
Amazing Spiderman 2
Spiderman 3
keirarts and nosferatu42 like this.
Reply With Quote
Reply  

Like this? Share it using the links below!

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On



Our goal is to keep Cult Labs friendly. If you feel discouraged from posting by certain members' behaviour then you can e-mail us in complete confidence.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.8
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.
Search Engine Optimization by vBSEO 3.6.0 PL2
All forum posts are contributed by members of the site; Cult Labs cannot take responsibility for all content posted on the site. If you have an issue with content posted on the site please click the 'report post' button.
Copyright © 2014 Cult Laboratories Ltd. All rights reserved.