What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Da 5 Bloods (2020) ★★★★½

I had been intending to watch this since it was first put on Netflix so I'm feeling somewhat guilty that it took a shock of yesterday's sad news about Chadwick Boseman to make it my Friday night viewing.

Unsurprisingly, Spike Lee's politics are front and centre – it's a film deeply rooted in the Black Lives Matter movement, Trump's presidency and the upcoming presidential election, so I was surprised when I discovered the script was originally written in 2013 and had been more recently developed.

Of the cast, I've loved watching Delroy Lindo since I first saw Mulholland Drive many years ago and casting two mainstays from The Wire (Clarke Peters and Isiah Whitlock Jr.). With Chadwick Boseman playing 'Stormin' Norman', the squad leader who the other 'Bloods' go back to find, the scenes involving Norman's death and grave now have an added poignancy and are even more emotive than they would have been last week.

Da 5 Bloods looks fantastic thanks to great locations and superb cinematography by Newton Thomas Sigel. The score, by long-time Spike Lee collaborator Terence Blanchard is a stunning composition which should earn him many industry nominations and awards.

Making a film about the Vietnam War Is tricky because directors often play the 'America as victim' card or fall into the racist trap of making every Vietnamese person appear suspicious and dangerous. By explaining how the conflict turned family members against each other and it's a lot more nuanced than the typical Manichean narrative. With the storyline incorporating the past and present, Lee has created something both cathartic and hopeful.

This is a phenomenally impressive film by Spike Lee, possibly even more impactful than 2018's BlacKkKlansman and, like that, I can't think of another director who could have made this film.

[Nostalgic]

Originally Posted by Rob4

Good choices Dem

The Door with Seven Locks is available from Kino as Chamber of Horrors.

A few I've seen from the 30s and 40s that are worth checking out:

The Bat Whispers
Murder by the Clock
The Phantom of Crestwood
The Ghoul
The Cat and the Canary (Bob Hope)
The Ghost Breakers (Bob Hope)
Horror Island
The Night Monster
Arsenic and Old Lace
The House of Fear (Basil Rathbone, Sherlock Holmes)
And Then There Were None
Dragonwyck

I think Hitchcock's Rebecca fits quite well in the old dark house category as well.

There were literally dozens of these type movies, both serious and comedies, made in the 30s and 40s and to be honest I've hardly scratched the surface in catching up with them mainly due to availability. The general category of old dark house also fits under many horror sub-categories: hauntings; fake hauntings; murder mystery; masked phantoms; monster on the loose; psychological thriller, etc.

Thank you all!

I've now an even bigger list to findm, as if my "to watch" pile wasn't big enough already, lol!

Currently into lots of different stuff including

Godzilla/Gamera/Japanese monster movies
Old Dark House movies
Screwball comedies (30's-50's)
Giallo movies
Classic 80's horror
Japanese horror (The Ring etc),


So yeah, sorted for viewing for probably a year!

Quick question, does anyone else find themselves watching more old films than new?

There are more films being produced than ever before & yet I hardly find any I love now.

Love and good wishes to all!

[Rob4]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

Thank you all!

Quick question, does anyone else find themselves watching more old films than new?

There are more films being produced than ever before & yet I hardly find any I love now.

Love and good wishes to all!

I'd say about 70% of what I view is pre-1990 film or television.

Most new stuff I view are usually cinema with either my wife or son which would be things like arthouse/oscar bait with my wife or the latest blockbuster with my son (must get out to see Tenet). Otherwise all my modern viewing are streamed boxsets e,g, Umbrella Academy or BBC drama e.g. Line of Duty which we can all watch together.

[gag]

Originally Posted by Nostalgic

Thank you all!

I've now an even bigger list to findm, as if my "to watch" pile wasn't big enough already, lol!

Currently into lots of different stuff including

Godzilla/Gamera/Japanese monster movies
Old Dark House movies
Screwball comedies (30's-50's)
Giallo movies
Classic 80's horror
Japanese horror (The Ring etc),


So yeah, sorted for viewing for probably a year!

Quick question, does anyone else find themselves watching more old films than new?

There are more films being produced than ever before & yet I hardly find any I love now.

Love and good wishes to all!

I’m always watching older movies over today’s especially before 2000.
So answer to your Q? Is yes I do and I agree about amount of films there is these days but hardly out that wow’s you any more, just ok.

[J Harker]

Personally i watch more older films than new because I'm still catching up. There's dozens and dozens of old films that are still 'new' to me.

Sent from my SM-G960F using Tapatalk

[Demoncrat]

Whilst there are some decent directors producing new films (Eggers, Strickland, Cosmatos etc ) the majority of what I watch is from last century. If only to gawk at Hypocritewood's gall. See Carbon Copy or Soul Man ahem.

[MrBarlow]

Battle for Planet of the apes. 1973.

Ten years after the ape revolution and a nuclear war, Caesar has lived with his primates in peace but when a barrier is crossed he has to protect everyone including humans from a human cult and try to restore balance within after his son is killed.

This was the first time i have seen this instalment of the franchise and to be honest it was good, not the best, John Huston gives a nice piece of intro as The Lawgiver who provides the intro on the discs. Roddy McDowell returns as Caesar who has restored balance with humans in their land but curiosity gives in when he, Macdonald and another ape go to the city to view archive footage of his parents unad upset the balance of peace. Claude Atkins plays Aldo who believes he should be leader. Lew Ayers plays Mandemus, keeper of the weapons.

Even though this was the last of the films and we see humans and apes living together and peace and a statue of Caesar erected but it was left open as we don't see how they seem to fall out and humans becoming slaves and prisoners is never told.

battle-for-the-planet-of-the-apes-caesar-macdonald-virgil.jpg

[iank]

Alice, Sweet Alice. Alice is a troubled and difficult 12 year old girl, jealous of her prettier younger sister and resentful of her judgmental, overbearing aunt. So when her sister is murdered and her aunt attacked by a masked figure wielding a knife, Alice soon becomes prime suspect. But is it really Alice's face behind the killer's mask? This mid 70s horror thriller, clearly influenced by the Italian "giallo" horror genre, was actually a pretty effective mystery chiller. You know all bets are off and a film means business when an innocent little girl (Brooke Shields in her film debut) is the first to get offed, and this unpredictability extends through the rest of the film. The killer reveal, for instance, comes not in the climax but about 25 minutes earlier, allowing for the suspense of wondering when and how they'll get caught, and the tension of an innocent character being in their presence and oblivious to the danger they're in. This was a pretty solid flick, actually, I rather enjoyed it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Fanatic (2019)

A bit of a well worn story about a geeky cult movie fan who is fobbed off by his action hero idol whose fan worship quickly escalates from obsession to violence.

The story itself is quite enjoyable if not remarkable. Devon Sawa is decent as cult action hero Hunter Dunbar, there's some good Hollywood photography and director Fred Durst (Yes that one) keeps things ticking over nicely whilst quietly ramping up the suspense. I should also add that it's incredibly funny but not always for the right reasons.

However it's John Travolta that kept me wrapped in this movie. He's unrecognizable in both looks and mannerisms, i found his performance quite astonishing to be honest. If they ever do a live action Simpsons movie and want someone to play 'Comic Book Guy' then Travolta is your man.

[MrBarlow]

Planet of the apes. 2001.

A astronaut lands on a planet after going after a chimp that went through a time gap during a electrical lightning storm in space and lands on a planet run by apes.

Aside from having a good star cast and Tm Burton at the helm this should have been a good film, but with 20th Centuary Fox creating so many difficult tasks and not letting the director have creative power...no wonder this film sucks, I have no idea how I managed to sit through this film again. Does 20th Centuary fox not give a dam, they done it with Alien 3 taking control, looked daft and it's now become a favourite amongst other sci-fi fans but this ain't going to be a classic. Did they give Tim Roth a coffee and sugar fix as he didn't like to be stood on the ground alot.

320x0w.jpg