What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[gag]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

Watched Ghostbusters Frozen Empire. I had good fun with it despite the generally negative reviews. My wife also enjoyed seeing it. Afterlife was a better film so if you didn't like that, stay the hell away.

I did appreciate that it came up with a new villain and loved that you saw rather a lot of Dan Ackroyd playing Ray. It's not an especially funny film which may explain why many reviewers weren't keen on it. Not that jokes didn't land, more so that they rarely existed. It's certainly nothing groundbreaking but luckily it's still entertaining.

If I had to come up with a criticism, it would be that I found the squabbling family dynamic parts slightly tiresome. And there was a fair amount of that. I'd probably award 7/10, I'm sure it definitely helps the film if you happen to be a big fan of the franchise.

btw There's quite a lot in the trailers which didn't make it to the final cut so an extended version on home media would be appreciated.

I watched this at weekend and said same thing to guy at work today who was going to see it but didn't , asked me what I thought I also said if you liked last one you won't mind this but the jokes and humour where practically none existence, but overall it was decent enough to go watch on Big screen, I went to the late night showing and it was empty, less than 10 Ppl, im going cinema again this week to watch late night with the Devil, I've noticed it's barely playing anywhere, I know few ppl who fancy it and said they can't find cinema showing it, luckily it showing in Blackburn.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by gag

I watched this at weekend and said same thing to guy at work today who was going to see it but didn't , asked me what I thought I also said if you liked last one you won't mind this but the jokes and humour where practically none existence, but overall it was decent enough to go watch on Big screen, I went to the late night showing and it was empty, less than 10 Ppl, im going cinema again this week to watch late night with the Devil, I've noticed it's barely playing anywhere, I know few ppl who fancy it and said they can't find cinema showing it, luckily it showing in Blackburn.

Is Late Night with the Devil the one that's basically a re-imagining of the BBC's Ghost Watch?

[gag]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Is Late Night with the Devil the one that's basically a re-imagining of the BBC's Ghost Watch?

Yes guess it is.

[nosferatu42]

It's a film based in a live studio setting, so yep I guess.
I think the vibe is what would happen if there was a live demonic possession case on a talk show, which is kinda different.
But yeah I guess everything has been done before.
To me it looks like a fun horror film, which is sparse these days.


I know Kermode is divisive but he seemed to enjoy it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Do You Like Hitchcock? (2005)

An excellent made for tv movie from Dario Argento that borrows from the master of suspense throughout from Rear Window and Strangers on a Train to Vertigo and Dial M For Murder.

It's obviously a homage to Hitchcock and film in general and is lovingly made by Argento (who can't keep from advertising his own output like The Card Player through posters and photos on walls of a local video shop) with good characters and enough exploitative sex and violence to remind the viewer of his seventies heyday and also prove doubters wrong with an efficient and thoroughly enjoyable Giallo / Hitchcock style film in it's own right.

[nosferatu42]

I think "Do you like Hitchcock" is one of Argento's better later efforts.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

I think "Do you like Hitchcock" is one of Argento's better later efforts.

I agree. Last night was my third time of watching. I much prefer it to any of the ones i've rewatched over the last few weeks except possibly The Card Player.

For me at least it's one of the top three of his post Opera output along with The Card Player and my personal favourite Mother of Tears.

[nosferatu42]

Oh god I'd have to rewatch them all again, that would be hard work.
It's such a shame as I love his early films.

Post Opera I like Trauma, Two Evil eyes, Sleepless, Hitchcock and Stendahl as films I could happily watch and not have too many issues with.

All the rest I remember liking parts, but aspects annoyed me or I found them a bit dull.
Mother of Tears has some really good moments, but it's lacklustre and as a sequel to Suspiria and Inferno it's piss poor.

Dark Glasses i saw around Christmas and it was more coherent and better acted than a lot of his later films, it had a lot of connections to earlier works and was well made.
But there was no pulse, the killer was just a random bloke, there was tension but no real pay off in the finale.

The thing i want from an Argento film is a skewed view, something arty and striking, that's what got me into his films and made them different.
The lighting, mood, music, the elaborate unusual kills.

The Card player was a decent detective film but nothing more, it didn't feel like an Argento film to me.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by nosferatu42

The Card player was a decent detective film but nothing more, it didn't feel like an Argento film to me.

It is a good crime thriller rather than an Argento classic. However when you've been making films for 34 years what new can be achieved that he hadn't done before? Had he copied other films he'd have been seen as derivative. Thinking Trauma here for one.

He's a bit limited in what he can achieve on meagre Italian budgets to make films which seem to have tens of producers in a clamour to generate some needed cash as he never really got the Hollywood break he deserved. See Romero as an example of another director in the same boat.

His other workaround that time - mid 2000's - was also less Argento than what had come before such as his two excellent Masters of Horror episodes Jenifer and Pelts.

Obviously then there's the film i reviewed which is clearly a Hitchcock homage with some Argento blood thrown in.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Giallo (2009)

I honestly don't have the dislike for this film that others have. Yes, it's nowhere near as good as Dario Argento's directorial canon up as far as 1987's Opera but on the whole it isn't a bad little horror thriller.

At times the film is deliriously seedy and borders on torture porn, but performances - even though the killer's voice kept making me think of Papa Lazarou from The League of Gentlemen and his "You're my wife now" catch phrase - are fine with Adrien Brody and Emmanuelle Seigner always worth your attention. Meanwhile one or two of the set pieces are quite gripping.

Argento is nowhere near as creative as he used to be with his directorial flourishes and roaming camera work, but is this criticism necessary or would the film also be panned if he'd used well worn tracking shots from the past? Yet having said that, Giallo is still a nicely photographed film with impressive Rome location work and features some interesting on car camerawork.

I can accept the film isn't inspired in comparison to Dario's past movies, nor does it have a memorable score, so unmemorable i can't even remember it the day after, but viewed in the cold light of day as a Rome set serial killer thriller, a modern take on the seventies Giallo film, i'd opt for this over copycats like Amer The Editor or The Strange Color of Your Body's Tears any day of the week.