What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Rosso Sangue (1981)

Titled Absurd outside Italy and it certainly is.

Making his way from Greece to the US, George Eastman returns as the seemingly unstoppable killer from the previous years Antropophagus, whose blood clots far faster than normal making him virtually unkillable even though throughout the film, priest Edmund Purdom tells everyone who'll listen 'You've got to shoot him in the head'.

Wild OTT gore make this one of the more notorious video nasties (Love the bandsaw kill) and unlike Antropophagus it's also a decent watch thanks to a script that zips along and Eastman's monstrous performance. There's fun to be had wondering why Americans eat spaghetti whilst watching the big game on tv. Even Italian movie makers should know all American sport fans eat burgers and pizza, not pasta.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Birds (1963)

Along with Psycho, Vertigo and North By Northwest, The Birds is the most well known of all Alfred Hitchcock's work but it's the subject matter of birds violently attacking the residents of small Californian coastal town Bodega Bay that gives it it's classic status rather than the actual film itself because as far as classic Hitchcock suspense goes it comes in way below any of the other three.

It takes the first hour of it's two hour running time before there's a bird attack but then it's all full throttle until the end. Lead actress Tippi Hedren comes across as unlikable for the most part while Rod Taylor is wooden as the heroic male.

The Birds is also a film not best served by high definition as the special effects often look clunky and the model work stands out for all the wrong reasons but looking beyond that the bird attacks are well crafted and suitably chilling. The actual footage of masses of birds, often sitting in their thousands on buildings and telegraph wires are excellent and make the film genuinely memorable. The best scene for me of birds in the film is the two Love Birds caged in Hedren's car on the journey to Bodega Bay swaying from side to side in tandem as she takes the corners on the picturesque coastal highway.

As far as American horror of the sixties goes The Birds is good but as far as Hitchcock goes it's slightly above average.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Armored (2009)

Columbus Short plays a rookie member of an armored transport security team who is approached by a co-worker (Matt Dillon) to help pull off a $42m heist on their own trucks.

Also starring Jean Reno, Laurence Fishburne, Skeet Ulrich and Fred Ward, this is a fun time waster where all the names you've heard of basically play the bad guys. Some of the cinematography has an edge of Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs about it but that's where any similarities end.

That's not to say Armored is a bad movie. It really isn't but despite a quality cast who don't disappoint it feels more direct to video than cinematic blockbuster material.

One of those easy to watch reliable films from the dvd collection that gets an airing every five or six years.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The Ipcress File (1965)

Bond producer Harry Saltzman's gloomy, downbeat and more realistic take on the spy thriller stars Michael Caine as Harry Palmer the newly named spy from Len Deighton's classic Cold War thriller novel in which the protagonist went unnamed.

Although very good, the lack of action set pieces means it's a stunningly wordy attempt at the unglamorous side of the espionage genre and once again i found myself becoming confused with the goings on during it's third quarter although thankfully the finale brings everything together.

Caine is excellent as Palmer, a character more likely to cook a girl a tasty omelette than bed her and his humble working class, petty criminal background is as far away from Sean Connery's suave killer as you can get not to mention Palmer's public school educated spy masters Nigel Green and Guy Doleman too.

The Network Blu-ray looks and sounds superb. Notably they also filmed their own twenty minute interview with star Sir Michael Caine which is very refreshing. Beats interviews with extras and people you've never heard of other companies inflict on us.

[Frankie Teardrop]

THE BROKEN MIRROR – I often read reviews that describe films as ‘painterly’, but watching ‘The Broken Mirror’ often really does feel like a bit like being trapped inside the work of an old master. It’s a heavy film, as lush as it is static, full of Bergmanesque agony in its portrayal of a pregnant art restorer buckling under the strain of her awful relationships with mother and spouse. Along with the new child, something else is gestating away in the background – an atmosphere of surreal threat, embodied by a man who stares from the high window of the house opposite and appears to be the source of several poison pen letters. Then there is the avian mystery that lurks beneath a painting in a strange gallery, an obsession that swallows up the protagonist and begins her inevitable slide into madness. ‘The Broken Mirror’ cannot possibly be viewed with anything other than the most furrowed of brows, and its elegant looks tease a sense of depthless mystery; some will flock to it, others will moan about watching paint dry.

CALAMITY OF SNAKES – It’s difficult to know where to start with this tornado of trash. I’d seen it before on one of those mangled, crappy ‘fifty shit horror films’ compilations, so I should’ve known what I was in for. Let me just get this out of the way – I’d feel like a dick evangelising about a movie that relies on so much animal violence. Snakes are killed, thousands of them, brutally, in the name of schlocky entertainment. But if you can find room for that in your moral holiday, the hysteria will hit you like a drug. Disco bloodbaths, flying pythons, choreographed flame throwing and a snake hunter who makes an entrance by emerging from a box full of writhing serpents with one of them dangling from his mouth as if it makes him look dead hard, are just the tip of the iceberg of this cautionary fable of real estate gone wrong. The two or three excruciating minutes when a mongoose minces a bunch of adders in a filthy warehouse to a new wave electro soundtrack will make you feel like you’ve drifted into someone’s bad dream. Very special, despite all the ugh. Hypocrite that I am.

[iank]

Saw April Fool's Day again last night. A bunch of college kids head over to a private island owned by one of their wealthiest friends for an April Fool's party and weekend getaway. But what starts as a lot of jolly japes soon turns deadly serious when members of the group start to disappear one by one... This tongue in cheek mid 80s slasher has long been a fave of mine, and still is. Great cast including Deborah Foreman, Amy Steel (the heroine in Friday the 13th Part 2) and Biff from BTTF, very likeable characters, quality production and great music. And about that twist... April Fool's Day is still killer.*

[nicholasrope]

Napoleon

Biopic chronicling the rise of Napoleon as the ruler of France through the battles and his marriage. Joaquin Phoenix does a fine job in a Film that has decent battle scenes in one of the middle of the pack type films, seen better, seen worse, probably won't watch it again.

Castaway (1986)

Oliver Reed puts a Ad in a paper wanting a woman to join him on a Desert Island for a year. Amanda Donohoe answers and they spend a year together where they argue, things look to get nasty but get along at other times. They also encounter other trials and tribulations along the way. It was interesting, kept me enthralled but I'm not clamoring for a new UK DVD/Blu-Ray release.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

A Star is Born (2018)

Starring Bradley Cooper as a Springsteen esq popular singer songwriter and full blown alcoholic who meets and falls for Ally (Lady Gaga) a struggling singer and coaxes her to follow her dreams, while he battles his personal demons.

As far as directorial debuts go, Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born is a strong one that pulls you in immediately. Both Cooper the actor and Gaga are both excellent and have great screen chemistry, as is Sam Elliott as Cooper's touring brother and throughout the first half i loved the film and its music. However when Cooper's substance abuse began to properly take over it went downhill incredibly fast.

Not that it made the film worse, it didn't, it was powerful stuff, but i can do without f*cking misery like that at this time of year.

[Demoncrat]

I never did review this one.

Skyscraper (1996, Raymond Martino)

Anna Nicole Smith caper.
She's a helicopter pilot who gets embroiled into a nefarious scheme to steal ... computer hardware. The nineties cough.
Lots of fun here, second tier practical fx, stunts a gogo. Someone on fire? Check!
The lead, well, it's not her fault really. She seems more comfortable with the sex scenes (Alistair Maclean was right harumph), so maybe some steamy thriller would have suited her betterer. For all that, it's a must for any bad film night. Lawdy.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

A Star is Born (2018)

Starring Bradley Cooper as a Springsteen esq popular singer songwriter and full blown alcoholic who meets and falls for Ally (Lady Gaga) a struggling singer and coaxes her to follow her dreams, while he battles his personal demons.

As far as directorial debuts go, Bradley Cooper's A Star is Born is a strong one that pulls you in immediately. Both Cooper the actor and Gaga are both excellent and have great screen chemistry, as is Sam Elliott as Cooper's touring brother and throughout the first half i loved the film and its music. However when Cooper's substance abuse began to properly take over it went downhill incredibly fast.

Not that it made the film worse, it didn't, it was powerful stuff, but i can do without f*cking misery like that at this time of year.

I loved this film. Feel good film it isn't though.

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