What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[iank]

Saw about an hour of The Conjuring 3 last night before turning it off in abject boredom and watching Seinfeld and Press Gang instead. Very dull, not scary in the slightest and just deeply paint by numbers by this point. I think it's time to retire this franchise.

[nicholasrope]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Captain Marvel (2019)

Following an opening twenty minutes where characters flew around in space firing bolts of lightning out of their arses at one another in tiresome Marvel fashion this actually settled down into a decent earth set adventure for Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) and Nick Fury (A CGI youthful Samuel L Jackson).

Set in 1995, this has a great soundtrack - Nirvana, Hole, Lita Ford, Heart, REM, Garbage and No Doubt - as well as some fun set pieces whilst Danvers and Fury made for an enjoyable double act. It's only when it arrives at it's finale that it kinda goes all up inside it's own rectum in true Marvel style again. At two hours this was just long enough.

Must admit, I liked the Soundtrack but really disliked this one. Along with Doctor Strange, Thor: Dark World & Black Widow, It's definitely in the bottom 4 Marvel Films.

[nicholasrope]

Originally Posted by iank

Saw about an hour of The Conjuring 3 last night before turning it off in abject boredom and watching Seinfeld and Press Gang instead. Very dull, not scary in the slightest and just deeply paint by numbers by this point. I think it's time to retire this franchise.

Completely agree. It had a good start but deteriorated quite rapidly.

[nicholasrope]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

X-Men: The Last Stand (2006)

Although derided by comic book fans for being a mass of storylines - a cure for the mutant gene and Jean Grey (Famke Janssen) turning to the 'dark side' with Magneto and becoming Dark Phoenix, i rather like it.

It's fast paced and technically spectacular with some great action set pieces and ends up a crowd friendly superhero blockbuster. Kudos also for ditching the boring Cyclops (James Marsden) early doors and adding Kelsey Grammer's Hank (The Beast) McCoy to proceedings.

I really don't get why this one gets so much hate. It's such a fun Movie. Certainly better than those slogs known as Days Of Future Past and Apocalypse.

[nicholasrope]

Cocoon

Residents at a Old Peoples Home suddenly find the Fountain Of Youth in a Swimming Pool containing Alien Pods that were being rescued by Brian Dennehy. Steve Guttenburg also stars in this Film whilst not dull, wasn't exciting either.

Guessing watching it for the 1st time in 2021 instead of the 80's probably affected it.

Best Of The Best

Eric Roberts is part of the U.S.A National Karate Team who travel to Korea to take on the best Fighters in the world. This is a forgotten gem, I enjoyed it has much as when I first watched it. Only issue is I don't really see Roberts as a Martial Artist. James Earl Jones co-stars (And excels) as the authoritative Coach and Chris Penn as a hot head team mate.

[Mojo]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I have this on an Italian dvd titled Naked Massacre. It's a pretty poor print.

This Blu Ray from Severin is 91 minutes, plus it has the US NAKED MASSACRE 85 min cut as a bonus.
I’d never seen the film before, but I would imagine this is a big upgrade from previous releases.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Horns (2013)

Daniel Radcliffe stars as a young man accused of murdering his girlfriend who is then shunned by the local townsfolk until one night he awakens with horns growing out of his head and the ability to make people tell him their darkest secrets as he starts to seek out the real killer.

Alex Aja's film begins as a clever horror comedy as we watch normal people reveal their hidden secrets, it's witty and a lot of fun but around the half way mark this kinda turns into a neo-noir mystery as Radcliffe becomes a demonic sleuth as the plot takes on even darker tones with added religious satire.

However at five minutes shy of two hours this is way too long and the flashback scenes become a bit wearing but overall this was an entertaining look at small town life with demonic overtones and at times felt quite Stephen King like, i guess it's a bit of like father like son because Horns is based on a book by King's son Joe Hill.

The Railway Children (1970)

Speaking of films that are too long. At 105 minutes that certainly applies to this charming and rather quaint family favourite.

It's an intelligent and humorous adaptation of E Nesbit's classic novel about three children and their mother who relocate to Yorkshire following their father's wrongful arrest for treason.

The landscapes are gorgeous and there's great location work at Oakworth railway station, Haworth and even picturesque Wycoller (Ten minutes in the car from me) but despite one or two well done set pieces such as the landslide onto the railway tracks, the story tends to become repetitive. The three children are all perfectly cast, especially Jenny Agutter as the oldest child who's passion for fun and adventure slowly fades as she faces growing up and the extra responsibility that comes with it, but Bernard Cribbins as the station master was slightly grating.

Amusingly Sally Thomsett, who plays 11 year old Phyllis, was twenty when she made this film and used to turn up for work in her sports car, she then went from this straight onto Sam Peckinpah's Straw Dogs where she plays one of the Cornish villagers.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Mojo

THE QUIET ONES. ( 2014 )

A professor and his students conduct various experiments on a young woman who appears to be possessed by some kind of demonic force.
This film at the outset seemed to tick all the boxes for me - the Hammer name, spooky story and the 70s setting. However, apart from a couple of songs on the radio at the beginning of the film, there is little use of the Seventies setting. For a lot of the time, it could be set in any era to be honest.
Although quite creepy in places, it just didn’t seem to hit the mark for me. Worth a watch, but not something to return to. Shame.

Funnily enough, I watched this last week. I agree with much of what you said is it's very much a curate's egg which is occasionally very tense, has some well-worked jump scares, but is ultimately unsatisfying.

I really liked Jared Harris's central performance as he is a really good actor, and Olivia Cooke, who I recognised from Bates Motel, is fairly convincing as Jane Harper, who may be possessed or might be mentally unwell.

I watched it the next day with the commentary by writer-director John Pogue and producer Tobin Armbrust, which was a waste of 98 minutes.

It's something I shall probably watch again, though I'm glad I didn't pay full whack for it and picked it up for two quid from Music Magpie.

[nicholasrope]

Cocoon: The Return

The residents and some of the Aliens return in order to bring back one of the Cocoons. However it is found by a Underwater Research Lab where Courtney Cox works. I found this to be more entertaining because there was a sense of danger unlike the original.

Best Of The Best 2

Eric Roberts and Phillip Rhee go for revenge when their friend is killed in a fight. One of my favorite films growing up, still very enjoyable.

I remember watching a episode of Movie Watch on Channel 4 and this film got one of the worst scores ever (I have no idea why)

We're The Millers

Jason Sudeikis is forced to smuggle Drugs from Mexico so he hires Jennifer Aniston (Who's a Stripper which I'm sure they enjoyed teasing on the cover lol) Emma Roberts and Will Hoult to be his family for cover. Cue funny mishaps in an enjoyable effort.

[trebor8273]

I know some on the site didn't like this much, but I enjoyed it. Here it's told from the point of view of the invisible man's victim,his wife . It's a slow burning affair in which the wife leaves her abusive husband who is later found dead, not long after she believes he faked his death and is stalking her and is invisible , you are left wondering if it's all in her head and she is a little unhinged , we have a couple of twists. The scene of her sister being killed in a restaurant just looked silly, but as I said I enjoyed it.


We had some good camera work to the sense of isolation and the sense of being watched . Elisabeth Moss was fantastic in her role as the wife, think after this might give handmaids take a go.