What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[davcol]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Actually this time it wasn't. I couldn't remember a film because i didn't watch one. I watched a couple of episodes of The Avengers instead.

What is that show? Is it a 1970s thing or one of those super hero marvel things. I'm not up with modern entertainment.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by davcol

What is that show? Is it a 1970s thing or one of those super hero marvel things. I'm not up with modern entertainment.

Sixties. Patrick Macnee, Linda Thorson, bowler hats, umbrellas, sharp suits and so on.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Devil's Business (2011)

After discussing composer Justin Greaves with our own Justin101 yesterday on the Extreme Metal thread i thought i'd give this a rewatch with Greaves doing the soundtrack.

At the country house of their target, two hit men lay in wait. However it soon becomes apparent all is not as it should be and they might be the ones about to die.

The film is well made belying it's limited budget and thanks to it's devilishly good storytelling, atmosphere by the bucket load and it being laced with influence from the likes of Bava and Dennis Wheatley. It's a film that's at times glacier paced and yes there's a lot of talk especially in the first twenty minutes as the senior killer tells his younger partner of a murder at their bosses strip club, however you have to pay attention as it all becomes relevant by the end and isn't just the throw away story it seems at the time.

Despite it being grounded in reality the film has a whiff of otherworldly weirdness to it, the scenes of occult ritual aftermath are grim in the extreme yet come the final scenes this grimness has dissipated and it almost becomes Lovecraftian in it's madness. Thanks to a Tom Baker Doctor Who story i knew what to expect in the final scenes so the gory death of one of the protagonists came as no surprise. I won't go into detail as it may spoil it for anyone who wishes to see the film.

Finally returning to Greaves, there's a twenty minute interview with him on the disc where he discusses scoring the film as well as a commentary by director Sean Hogan.

Recommended.

[davcol]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Sixties. Patrick Macnee, Linda Thorson, bowler hats, umbrellas, sharp suits and so on.

I know what you mean now. Patrick Macnee was really good in A View to a Kill back in the day. I know everyone slates that film but for me that was the first bond film I ever rented and I love it.

[MrBarlow]

Nightmare At Noon. 1988.

During a expermiment, a small town water supply is posioned and turning the locals crazy. The town Sheriff, a couple and a hitchhiker try to fend of those infected while a group of scientists watch on.

Something that feels likes the Romero film The Crazies is the inspiration for part of this Nico Mastorakis film with Wings Hauser and Kimberly Beck who pick up hitcher Bo Hopkins and drive through George Kennedy's little town. Aside from being a B grade film, this wasnt too bad, you got decent car chases and explosions, got amount of shoot outs amd some black humour. This is something I will come to watch, it does kind of fizzle out towards the end but this kept me entertained.

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[nicholasrope]

Problem Child

When John Ritter and Amy Yasbeck realize that they can't have children, they end being tricked into adopting Junior, the most troublesome 7 year old there is, who is pretty good at creating hijinks and getting revenge on anybody that gets on his bad side.

This was favourite of mine when I was much younger LOL and whilst silly, it still holds up. I found it to be quite entertaining still.

Hard Boiled

Chow Yun Fat is a Detective who is fed up with the criminals so he starts to play them off against each other. Released in 1992, this was the 1st time I ever seen this film and after hearing about how good it is, I must admit, I was unimpressed. Granted the Hospital scene was good but I was kinda bored.

Problem Child 2

John Ritter and his adopted son move to a small town where Junior meets his match with the troublemaking Daughter of the School Nurse played by Amy Yasbeck (Different role from the original). Gilbert Gotfried is also back, this time he's the School Principle who gets the biggest shock when Junior walks through his door.

Again another childhood fave and again it still holds up and it's better than the 1st film.

Expendables 2

Stallone and his gang is back and this time they are out for revenge when Jean Claude Van Damme kills one of his men. It's more of the same really with the cameos and the 1st appearances of the Action Stars that I enjoy watching being what makes these films. This one is my favourite of the lot.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Wonderland (2003)

Based on the actual murders that took place on Wonderland Avenue, Laurel Canyon, LA, which centers on Val Kilmer as adult star John Holmes who was involved in four gruesome killings in 1981.

Not the cock grabbing sleazy sex fest you might expect when you think of Holmes aka Johnny Wadd, out of the porn industry and basically living in his car with his under age girlfriend (Kate Bosworth). Instead this is a multi-angle look at the murders from the viewpoints of Holmes, and biker and dealer turned police informant David Lind (Dylan McDermott) which tells the fractured story of what happened when a robbery of organised crime figure Eddie Nash (Eric Bogosian) went badly wrong with Nash' retaliation brutal and deadly.

Basically this takes up where Boogie Nights (1997) finishes in the story of John Holmes, his adult movie career now over. It's sordid and violent and pretty gloomy to look at for sunny Los Angeles, with the story running non-linear being told in fractured flashbacks and drug hazed patchwork recollections, but Kilmer plays Holmes deteriorating personality rather well as do the rest of a pretty star studded cast (Josh Lucas, Christina Applegate, Lisa Kudrow, Tim Blake Nelson, Carrie Fisher, Janeane Garofalo, Natasha Gregson Wagner, Ted Levine, Paris Hilton) in their mainly decidedly grotty outcast roles.

I like Wonderland, it's a subversive slice of film making that goes to show what happened in Laurel Canyon during the halcyon days of the sixties, seventies and eighties wasn't all rock n' roll hedonism.

The film does feature an excellent soundtrack from the era including T-Rex, ZZ Top, Bad Company, Terry Reid, Patti Smith, Joan Jett, Funkadelic and Duran Duran among aothers.

[Justin101]

That's one I've never heard of and now I want to watch it! Sounds really interesting... add it to the massive list

[nicholasrope]

Problem Child 3

Made for TV effort which sees William Katt taking over John Ritter's role and another Actor replacing the original Actor for Junior (Why didn't they just create now characters?) sees Junior fall in love with a Girl but has to take out his 3 rivals. I liked the 1st two movies but this is awful, I know the others were silly but this goes way too far in it's silliness, you just need to see the scene where a tree is used to knock a man into the ground (Think hammer on a nail) it's like a Looney Toons Cartoon.

Crawlspace

Klaus Kinski runs an Appartment Building in which he only hires to women, which he stalks and Murders (Along with their Boyfriends) he is also the Son of a Nazi Doctor, a Doctor who may have Murdered 67people in Argentina as well as rigging rooms with traps and keeping a woman in a cage.

All right then, I have heard of this before and I saw the Trailer on one of Arrow's Enter The Video Store Films, so I got the Blu Ray on Import from Amazon and I quite liked it. Kinski is quite convincing as a maniacal killer and whilst you don't see most of the killings, it does get you with the psychological tension and at under 80 minutes, it doesn't wear out it's welcome.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Justin101

That's one I've never heard of and now I want to watch it! Sounds really interesting... add it to the massive list

I also recommend Wonderland, a fine film which, to my surprise, I've just discovered isn't in my collection, so onto the wishlist it goes!