What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Apt Pupil (1998)

Taken from Stephen King's classic 1982 anthology Different Seasons, this is a er' different beast altogether taking in the subject of a teenager's obsession with the Holocaust and his friendship with an old gentlemen living in his town who is hiding out from his past as a Nazi war criminal.

Though not a horror film director Bryan Singer brings a horrific subject to the fore and the subject matter becomes occasionally unsettling viewing, in fact i found some sequences more questionable than i did the whole of Von Trier's The House that Jack Built.

Ian McKellen is superb as the former SS death camp officer but i found fellow lead, Brad Renfro, as the teen to be annoying and this dragged the whole of the film down a level for me.

For some reason i associate this with King's other tale of a boy befriending an old man on the run - Hearts In Atlantis, which i think is a far more satisfying movie altogether.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Plenty of UK companies have done a cut and run.

Like Rolls Royce.

I have the uncut anchor bay version.

[nosferatu42]

I think i've got a random media book from some random country somewhere.

[nosferatu42]

But that's what i mean if some bodys watching Phantom of death and The washing machine then surely Cut and Bodycount are no brainers.

[MrBarlow]

Piranha II: The Spawning. 1981.

A scuba diving instructor along with her chief of police ex husband and a biochemist try to link the deaths of people on a Caribbean holiday resort that a strain of mutant fish may be responsible.

Took a break from watching Smallville and decided to watch this. We can't blame James Cameron about this even though he is credited as director and this is his first major feature but due to producer Ovidio G. Assonitis looking for a fall guy when it fails. The acting may not be great, the special effects looked cheaply done, maybe poorly scripted but at least we got some partial female nudity, Not the best but still entertaining from the VHS era.

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[Rik]

Bill & Ted Face the Music 4/5

If you can find a way to watch this, do it! It’s like putting on an old comfortable pair of shoes, loved it!

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Apt Pupil (1998)



Taken from Stephen King's classic 1982 anthology Different Seasons, this is a er' different beast altogether taking in the subject of a teenager's obsession with the Holocaust and his friendship with an old gentlemen living in his town who is hiding out from his past as a Nazi war criminal.



Though not a horror film director Bryan Singer brings a horrific subject to the fore and the subject matter becomes occasionally unsettling viewing, in fact i found some sequences more questionable than i did the whole of Von Trier's The House that Jack Built.



Ian McKellen is superb as the former SS death camp officer but i found fellow lead, Brad Renfro, as the teen to be annoying and this dragged the whole of the film down a level for me.



For some reason i associate this with King's other tale of a boy befriending an old man on the run - Hearts In Atlantis, which i think is a far more satisfying movie altogether.

You've probably already read it but I highly recommend the novella that this film was based upon. If you've not it's in the Different Seasons book along with Shawshank and the story Stand by Me was based on, The Body.

[Inspector Abberline]

Capricorn One.(1978)
A marvelous cross between The Parallax View and all those conspiracy theories about the moon landings... Anyone who has watched The Toast of London, where Toast has a run in with an angry Stanley Kubrick,and a lurking Nixon in the background,will never take the conspiracy seriously...
Capricorn One is all ready to be blasted off into space,for the first manned flight to Mars,when it's crew are quickly ushered off the rocket before take off.. Apparently NASA decided to get its life support system from its local poundshop,and then found out it would fail after a couple of weeks,and kill the astronauts...Of course instead of admiting there mistake to the general public,and losing millions of dollars in funding,and the Knock on effect it would have for contractors all making money off of NASA..Of course like most cover ups, especially those done by government agencies, nothing goes to plan,and when the spaceship burns up on re-entry,the astronauts soon realise they are now expendable... With a slight nod to All The President's Men , Elliott Gould plays an investigative television journalist who starts to suspect some things are not quite right after his friend a technician at NASA goes missing and his entire past is erased... With a top-notch cast that includes James Brolin,Brenda Vaccaro,Sam Waterston ,O. J. Simpson and the ever reliable Hal Holbrook... Directed by Peter Hyhams,he mixes some decent action sequences,the helicopters chasing the bi-plane flown by an angry Telly Savalas, being the high light, with a great conspiracy plot that does not stretch the grounds of credibility.. Produced by Lew Grade's ITC Entertainment ,this was a staple of late night television for as long as I can remember... This has also had a decent blu ray upgrade,and looks fine and dandy to these weary old eye's... Just an enjoyable thriller that has tremendous re-watch value....

[MrBarlow]

Planet Of The Apes. 1968.

A astronaut crew slip through a time barrier and crash land on a planet in the future where apes are the leaders and the humans are enslaved.

Both this film and 2001: A Space Odyssey seem to be the year box office films were released and held a audience in captivation, 52 years later and both films have still captivating this generation of film goers with special effects from the start and make up process.

Charlton Heston plays Taylor a survivor of the crew and leader who is treated like a prisoner and test subject to Zira (Kim Hunter) until she realises he can communicate and Cornelius (Roddy McDowell) has his doubts but is slowly warming up to Taylor, Dr. Zaius (Maurice Evans) believes man to be a threat and is seen as a bully but is afraid as well.

The first time i saw this i was amazed by the great acting involved with the actors portraying the apes on how they walked and acted like apes and the make up by John Chambers who was the creative designer and brilliant cinematography Leon Shamroy and excellent background score by Jerry Goldsmith.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

D-Tox (2002)

Director Jim Gillespie is most famous for I Know What You Did Last Summer (1997), well, this snow bound Sylvester Stallone starrer is practically I Know What You Did Last Winter.

Whilst there's nothing remotely new here i do find there's quite a bit to enjoy with D-Tox, in which Stallone's cop is sent to a remote rehab centre in a bid to come to terms with alcohol abuse following his wife's murder by a serial killer. The snowy location work is great and actually reminds me of Kubrick's The Shining more than any other movie but that's where the similarities end as D-Tox is a straight down the middle slasher movie with a killer running amok among the patients and staff at the former military base now police rehab hospital.

Aside from Stallone the movie has a pretty good cast for this sort of thing including Kris Kristofferson, Robert Patrick, Polly Walker, Tom Berenger, Jeffrey Wright and the always watchable character actor Charles S. Dutton.

The film has a bit of atmosphere, reasonable suspense and one or two inventive and gory murders and is a better movie than it's reputation suggests. Sure it's fairly forgettable but that's cool as it means i can return to it in a few years and it'll feel like a new movie just as it did this time round.