What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by SymbioticFunction

Just ordered a cheap blu-ray of J. A. Bayona's A Monster Calls.

It's a powerful and moving allegorical film about grief with wonderful imagery and fine performances. It's not necessarily a film to enjoy, more one to appreciate.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Lawrence of Arabia (1962)

Easter always feels like the time of year for epic films. Be it Biblical epics or in my case the near four hour classic by David Lean, Lawrence of Arabia.

Peter O' Toole gives a flamboyant performance as T.E. Lawrence, one of Britain's more enigmatic heroes - archeologist, army officer, diplomat and renowned author, and as this film depicts instigator of the Arab revolt against the Turks in 1916-18 in which he united warring tribes to defeat the Ottoman Empire.

O'Toole's Lawrence is funny and insolent to his superior officers and truly doesn't give a shit about anything, especially himself, with some courageous acts of bravery / stupidity.

Lean's film is epic by name and epic by nature, taking almost two years to shoot in Saudi Arabia, Spain and England it's a stunningly shot masterpiece of desert photography with what can only be described as awesome imagery such as the introduction of new star Omar Sharif via a mirage in long shot. It should also be added that Lean can frame a sunset like no other. This film was made for HD and it looks gob smacking on Blu-ray.

Winning seven Oscars including best film and best director (I was wondering how O'Toole failed to grab the acting award then saw he was up against Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird) Lawrence of Arabia is one of those genuinely timeless monuments in cinema history and the only thing preventing it having regular viewings is that bloomin' 3hr 50 min running time.

[SymbioticFunction]

I find it a bit frustrating when people shit all over Mother of Tears. If you bear in mind, that it had a FAR lower budget (and shooting schedule) than Suspiria or Inferno, you should definitely cut it some slack. It's pretty darn good for such a lower budgeted film. And even the harshest critic should respect the very lengthy one-take Asia Argento investigation of the Mater Lachrymarum lair. I can also say this, the obelisk method of despatch of the main villain makes quite the impression on the big screen. Unfortunately it doesn't have anywhere near the same impact at home, it looses something. It's a film that I would always defend. Plus it's difficult to attack any horror film that pretty much opens with a character being strangled with their own intestines.

Edit: Sorry for finale spoilers, hopefully most have seen it by now...

[MrBarlow]

Barry Lyndon. 1975.

Redmond Barry leaves his home town and joins the British army and deserts it and with his use of seduction and gambling becomes a nobleman and manages to make a enemy.

A film I tried to watch and could never get to even the middle or intermission but today I done it and glad I stuck it out this time. Such a great piece of cinematic history. Ryan O'Neil plays the title character from his troubled time to living in Ireland, falling in love and then having a duel with Leonard Rossiter that may have cost those around him a lot of money.

You really do have to admire Stanley Kubrick for even trying to produce and direct such a complex and expensive film that had all the ear markings of a financial and personal disaster. Not only did Kubrick manage to out do his last epic 2001 but he has created a movie that not only showcases the untapped acting abilities of some well known faces. The set pieces are amazing and the costumes are what you would expect to see in a movie with the timeline of the 18th century and a stunning background score that adds to the pace and tension of the last duel in the film.

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[Frankie Teardrop]

KILL LIST - Every once in a while I like to revisit 'Kill List', Wheatley's second feature and the one that put him on the map. It's such a strong movie; the 2010s were a good decade for horror with a couple of stone cold classics in there, and I think 'Kill List' could creep into my top ten. Barebones, it's about two hit men on a job that outwardly entails snuffing a trio of horrible perps, but beyond the basics things get hazy, opening up to the creeping tendrils of cosmic conspiracy. It's a film that gets a bit of stick for being confusing, though in that it foreshadowed and possibly influenced the genre tendency, more apparent later in the decade and in strong ascendancy now, for increasing obliqueness and abstraction. What stands out is the sense of an awful, gnawing tension that permeates nearly every frame from pretty much the kick off. Wheatley sets out his stall with a nigh on unbearable dinner party scene brimming with a menace that seems to spread itself through the entire film. There's a suburban claustrophobia to 'Kill List', and I think what I love most about it is how the film warps the landscape of dowdy high street UK through moody, highly textured editing and sound - the discordant drone soundtrack is a definite highlight. Aside from that, Neil Maskell?s performance does the rest of the work and seems to embody the film's uneasy energy, going from a kind of bovine sullenness to scary volatility and throwing off sparks along the way. I don't think the payoff is equal to the film's masterfully grim mood, but 'Kill List' is a film of obvious quality that withstands repeated viewings, and you don't get many movies that throw Mike Leigh and HP Lovecraft in with a bit of 'Get Carter'.

THE SPIDER LABYRINTH - One of my fave little subgenres is late eighties / early nineties Italian horror, stuff made well after the glory days. Mostly I like it because it's ridiculous and floridly artificial - see the unintentional unreality of the Filmirage flicks for instance. Many of those films are not good, but some are, like the work of Michele Soavi. I would not hesitate to call 'The Spider Labyrinth' a good film, in fact one of the best from Italian horror cinema's last days. It's well crafted, mysterious and highly atmospheric, the kind of thing I lap up. A professor lands in Budapest in search of his lost colleague; he stumbles upon a cultic conspiracy that snares him in its web of slow burning dread. I'd seen 'The Spider Labyrinth' once before on a crappy bootleg that obscured its visual qualities, which are often gorgeous and set the dreamlike tone, so important for a film that follows in the footsteps of the greats of surreal Euro horror. The nods to Argento, particularly to 'Inferno', are obvious, though the candy-coloured phantasmagoria is comparatively subdued in favour of a vibe not dissimilar to something like 'The Tenant' by way of 'The Thing'(!) Yes, 'Spider Labyrinth' lets loose with a scattering of generously icky fx moments, not many but they do leave an impression, particularly the ones at the end. If I hoped there'd be more, I didn't come away feeling short changed, so taken was I with the film's virulent mood. I dunno, 'The Spider Labyrinth' is just one of those that make you think "yep, this is why I'm into horror." Total recommend, and a film I'll return to many times.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Two eloquently written reviews there, Frankie.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Klute (1971)

A classy thriller from director Alan J. Pakula in which Jane Fonda plays Bree Daniel, a high class call girl and wannabe actress who is seemingly stalked by a client who is also a suspected missing person. Aided by private detective Donald Sutherland as John Klute, who is investigating the missing person.

Pakula's direction provides the film with a stifling gritty atmosphere, the film is dark in every way. It inhabits the same seedy night time world as 1969's Midnight Cowboy and 1984's Tightrope and is fraught with a paranoia that Pakula would really hit home with during The Parallax View (1974) and All the President's Men (1976).

However this is as much a character study as suspense thriller as Klute's relationship with Bree plays out with more intrigue and indeed suspense than the actual case, teaching her the difference between cold sex and warm love between two people as she battles her emotions with a nervous, jumpy intensity. Klute is definitely a film to watch for the performances and a fine example of seventies adult cinema.

[MrBarlow]

Bushwacked. 1995.

Daniel Stern plays a drug courier who goes on the run for a crime he is being framed for, when he learns that his name could be cleared in a cabin in the hills, he manages to pose as a scout leader and take a pack for a hike and camping trip. Right at the start I was in stitches with Stern doing a homage to Saturday Night Fever, walking down the street strutting his stuff. Surprisingly with this, the kids are well behaved and end up learning a few bad traits, like having a whizz over a hillside while singing in a chorus while Stern is acting like a army drill instructor. The laughs are few in between but can make you laugh out loud or it did with me

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[MrBarlow]

Detachment. 2011.

Adrian Brody stars as substitute teacher in a high school finds he has a connection with his students and dealing with personnel problems.

On the surface this deals with the crumbling American education system through the eyes of substitute teacher Henry Barthes who starts a new assignment in a new school with new teachers, in a new class with new pupils like he is obviously used to.Barthes makes clear that he is hollow and words can't hurt him which is his way of coping with a hopeless situation by neglecting his private life and detaching from the world. Like him every teacher seems to have developed his individual coping mechanism.

There is some dark humour, when you think you may be in for a laugh, the film changes into being a drama again and shows how American education system is viewed by politics, grades and how that can't effect outside the classroom and views of the other teachers and their personnel lives. James Caan, Christina Hendricks, Marcia Gay Harden, Lucy Liu, Tim Blake Nelson have small roles but provide a good on screen presence. One I'm happy to come back to.

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[gag]

Late night with the devil.
Slight spoiler alerts, but nothing actually gives away the film just more of the storyline,

Would have enjoyed this more if I wasn't sat in a boiling cinema, I can't do warmth and heat, reason being is when I'm like that and comfy it makes fall asleep, I fell asleep (no idea for how long but woke up on a crucial point of the film and missed part of it.

It was very well made, a decent and proper storyline, something a lot of films don't seem to have these days,
It wasn't just a film about the 70s it had that feel like the actual film was made in the 70s. Like a lost and undiscovered film.
Late night talk show with Jack Delroy who always wants to be the no one spot, but always missing out to other late night host,
After being quite and off screen for a few weeks due to his wife passing he wants to make it more special and decides to host it on Halloween night, so well presented you actually do feel like you are watching a late night show on tv, because it doesn't move around from one scene to another it's just one continuous shot with odd behind the scene footage as well,
They ask a young girl on specially for the night to make it go with a bang,
But another guest is always trying to ridicule him and all his guests because he is sceptic and always saying everything can be faked,
Until eventually it all kicks off.

Everything about this film is well made, done, presented etc and hits all the right notes in the right way, definitely a film that can be watched more than once and is worthy of having your collection when gets released.
Totally recommended shame more films weren't made as well as this.