What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[pedromonkey]

just watched Triangle, very cool film, very much like Time crimes. I love time travel movies and although this is flawed it's still a fantastic peice of sci-fi/horror cinema that is in an under appreciated sub genre. The central performance by Melissa George is nothing short of remarkable, this is basically a one woman show. Why is Director Christopher Smith not given the recognition he deserves, Creep was (no pun intended) Creepy and very atmospheric and Severence was a gore soaked riot. He needs more attention as he's one of the best Genre directors the U.K has at the moment.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by 42ndStreetFreak

OOOOOOOOOOOOH! Sorry mate, I have to say I dislike both those Fulci films.
"Door" could not even keep a cinema full of Fulci fans interested when it played at the Euro fest...even with Fulci there too!

To be honest, I don't think I could have watched Door in the cinema either. It's a very surreal, slow-paced film and is best viewed alone imo in able to absorb it all. Aenigma's pure Fulci gold though - death by snail suffocation?! - great stuff!

Superb Street Trash review btw 42nd.

With all the great quality reviews on here lately, I might delve back into the dusty depths of my reviews thread... The last 'review' I did was for Halloween - and that was only a mini one as part of my Halloween marathon!

[|cy]

I watched Street Trash last night, as it happens. The first thing I noticed was the superb picture quality, although as 42ndStreetFreak mentioned, the sound quality in the first half leaves a lot to be desired.

Still, a classic little film and one I thoroughly enjoyed.

Similarly, I can agree about Triangle. I caught it in the cinema when it came out and found it to be very good indeed. My appreciation of Melissa George certainly shot up afterwards - she was perfect in the role.

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye

Superb Street Trash review btw 42nd.

Fully agree.

[42ndStreetFreak]

Thank you very much.

Talking of which...I'm a happy man Carpenter's "Elvis" has finally got a DVD release!



"The Professor"

Before he wowed the dinner party brigade with "Cinema Paradiso" Giuseppe Tornatore made this troubled 5 hour TV mini series that never saw the light of day as a 5 hour TV mini series.

Instead it was cut down by half and released as a feature and the cutting really shows (especially later on) as far as the rather muddled plot goes.
And yet this severe editing was also probably a good thing in other ways.
It's a bit like being saved from drowning only to find the lifejacket chucked out to you has had a dog turd smeared around the collar.
Sometimes salvation can be a messy business.

The trimming works as far as having even remotely watchable pacing goes and certainly as far as keeping your brain from flowing out of your ears goes.
Something that surely would have happened in its 5 hour form as you would have tried to grasp the bewildering number of 'every other one looks alike' characters who all have 10 different, politically and culturally Italian specific, plots and double crosses to their incomprehensible name.

Never a real fan of Sicily and Naples set mafia tales me (give me those lovely Italian-American Mafia mongrels any day as far as groovy Mob drama goes....I love those big fat bastards) as they tend to be very country specific as far as political plots and deals go, lack any good Mob action, and it often leaves me cold when Guiseppe argues with Domenico about which Catholic politician to bribe this afternoon.
Hell no, give me a fat guy (in a bad short sleeved shirt) called Vinnie arguing with another fat guy (in a zip up top) named Carlo about the best meatball recipe while 'whacking' some mug in the woods any time.

Thankfully though the thing is saved (and even made pretty damn watchable) by the hammy as all hell turn by the always hammy as all hell Ben Gazzara as 'The Professor' who by virtue of not being as thick as all the other guys in prison creates a criminal empire based on MUCH...MUCHLY...MUCH death and destruction in the form of bloody shootings and nasty knifings.

Away from Gazzara that surprisingly amount of cold blooded violence keeps things energised (see a woman get holes blown in her as she walks along holding the hand of her little boy, see a guy get stabbed so many times the shower room turns crimson) and here we can thank the editing to ensure that the film does not slow to a dead mans' walk between these outbursts.
Hell the plot is so full of betrayals, shadowy schemes, double-dealings, betrayals, misunderstandings and international plotting that we have more than enough to be going on with any way.

Bloated (despite being gutted, go figure), too complex and culturally specific to truly excite...but there are still enough scenes of carnage (including a great assassination/finding the bodies montage that must have been on Scorsese's mind when he crafted that great and similar sequence in "Goodfellas") and enough scenes of Gazzara going nutzoid in a series of bad wigs to keep any trash hound at least entertained.



"SAW 6".

If as far as plotting went you really had no chance following the 'Saw' films after "Saw 2" if you had never seen any of the others...here even those who have followed the series will find themselves needing very much the mass of flashback sequences to appreciate the full goings on in "Saw 6".

And even then, despite all that and despite that the plotlines left dangling are all tied up, "Saw 6" has a few new 'Er?' moments of its own creation thanks to some sadly murky plotting near the end.
As such the need to reprise so much of the plot from flashbacks throughout the film (not just at the end as usual) and the less than clear plotting at times make "Saw 6" not as satisfying as the last 2 sequels imho and the need to flashback means the film never really becomes it;s own film until a good 40 minutes in.

Some of the traps are nasty nasty (especially the opening, prepare to wince!) but by now the traps are getting stale in general. As such this is not as good as people have been saying it was.
Still a must for "Saw" fans though...and it has a finale moment that's just great and totally unexpected.
Although for the first time ever in the series, despite this really being an end as far as the past five "Saw"movie plotlines are concerned, the film ends on a genuine cliffhanger. As such it never, ever becomes a real whole.
But the cliffhanger could well pave the way for a (HOPEFULLY!!!!!) final movie that could really deliver and satisfy.

[Angel]

Originally Posted by vincenzo

That's the one. Loosely based on the Patty Hearst case. Gregory Rozakis (who decorated Charles Bronson's apartment in Death Wish) was one of the kidnappers.

Good cast but it was all talk and little action.

I saw this as well, Vince, when it played in London in a double bill with Texas Chainsaw Massacre. I thought it was boring.

[unclefred]

I saw Shutter Island. I waited a week so the kid crowd would thin out, went late at night with only a dozen people there, it was great.

[vincenzo]

Three Days Of The Condor and The Parallax View.

Watched back to back. Two of the best thrillers of the 70's.

[Gojirosan]

All The Colours Of The Dark

The more I see of Sergio Martino's films, the more I rate him as a director. This is a splendid (and splendidly silly) mystery bloated with oneiric imagery and false reality. It looks spectacular with some amazing lighting and camerawork and the cast are excellently chosen to evoke the emotions tied to their characters.

A very decent film if this kind of thing is your bag.

The City Of The Dead

A wonderfully camp Gothic exercise from 1960 gamely handled by John (Llewellyn) Moxey on his cinematic début. He would later give us such classic American TV chillers as The Night Stalker, The House That Wouldn't Die and Nightmare In Badham County, amongst others. Here, though the setting is New England, the film is British and thus a very European style of Gothic sits over the proceedings. It's a familiar tale of diabolism and curses and sacrifice, but it is told so well and looks so amazing that it enthralls. Christopher Lee here essays a brave attempt at a New England accent which ends up sounding remarkably like the voice he was dubbed with in The Whip And The Body!

I hadn't seen this film in nearly 20 years and though I was transferring it from an old VHS to DVD-R, I liked it so much that I might buy the Redemption 2-disk special edition (presuming it looks better than the Public Domain releases I have sadly witnessed over the years!).

What sums it up, though, is that I was just putting it on to run into the DVD recorder whilst I did other things, but once it had started I ended up watching it to the end!

[vincenzo]

Originally Posted by Gojirosan

A wonderfully camp Gothic exercise from 1960 gamely handled by John (Llewellyn) Moxey on his cinematic début.

John is a regular poster over on the Britmovie forums and a genuinely nice chap.