Mortuary (1982)
A young Bill Paxton is a bit unhinged and his father, Mr Andrews (Christopher George) is a mortician and holds secret seances. People are winding up dead, could either of this odd pair be responsible? After the initial weirdness things quickly descend into familiar slasher territory with an ending that borrows heavily from other films of the genre. But it's all good fun.
It's not a top tier 80's slasher, but it's entertaining enough and throws a few unusual things into the mix. And I just happen to share my birthday with actress Lynda Day George, not that that's of any relevance really, just thought I'd throw it out there.
Fight Club (1999)
David Fincher's darkly comic tale revolves around an unnamed man (Edward Norton), an addict of self-help groups, as they seem to be the only cure for his insomnia. When he meets the enigmatic and charismatic Tyler Durden (Brad Pitt) his life spins into a completely different sphere of existence. Together they establish Fight Club, a place where men can be men and free themselves from the constraints of civilised society. But things start spiralling out of control and it soon becomes evident that Tyler is hatching a plot to bring down society. But is Tyler all that he seems to be..?
It's very nihilistic and, knowing the ending beforehand, as this isn't my first viewing, the impact is lessened. Nevertheless, there's much here to appreciate in Fincher's film. It's interesting that it's considered a man's movie, because it is in fact an anti-man's movie. Norton's character is, in actual fact, not man enough to be the person he wants to be, and so relies on Tyler to be that man for him. The real problem is that most people just didn't get it, I don't think. It's been accused (by critic Roger Ebert) of being anti-capitalism and anti-society, as if that's a bad thing. I quite like the bleak view of the world that the film has and it's quite unlike most Hollywood fare.
The Blu-ray looks terrific and really does the film justice - the UK release is fully uncut too. I did have it on DVD but never got round to watching it, so I thought that since I had the Blu I'd give it a rewatch. Last time I saw it was circa 1999, so it was ripe for reappraisal. Not as good as I remembered it, but it's still very relevant, probably more so now than it was back then. Norton and Pitt have never been better and director Fincher puts Chuck Palahniuk's vision up on screen very capably.
The Wicker Tree (2011)
Nearly 40 years on and Robin Hardy decides to finally deliver a sequel to the original classic. It wasn't really worth the wait, to be honest.
Successful gospel singer, Beth Boothby, travels to Scotland with her cowboy fiance to sing a few songs and convert the locals. She pretty much fails at both, as we all know the locals have their own agenda.
It's pretty much by the numbers and Hardy's story stalls several times and it's never quite engaging enough to get you involved. It fails where the original succeeded so well. The original was deviously clever in that Sgt. Howie was, to all intents and purposes, the good guy. And yet the story was woven in such a way that you actually found your sympathies lying with the Pagans, even though human sacrifice was on their minds. In this film everyone's just an incompetent idiot.
The story is, as I've said, wholly unengaging and the performances from the young American leads is wooden to say the least. The ending is rushed and nonsensical and the Wicker Tree barely makes an appearance. It's pretty much rubbish all the way through. Some nice ideas but badly executed and any intended humour simply falls flat. Chris Lee's useless cameo wasn't worth the trouble, either. He's better than this.
Not recommended, I'm afraid.
RoboCop (1987)
Managed to snag the Blu-ray trilogy for a tenner off Amazon and got stuck into the first film.
We all know the story, cop Murphy (Peter Weller) gets shot by some crooks and is rebuilt as RoboCop and goes after the bad guys.
The film is probably more reknowned for its ultra-violence (especially so in its uncut form on this disc) but there's plenty of other stuff to like. The wry observations on rampant consumerism are still as valid and there's plenty of dry humour that still makes me smile. I still think the sequel is the better film, but I rather like this initial entry.
It looks amzing on BD, even if they do use the rather antiquated MPEG2 codec to encode the film. It still looks head and shoulders above all previous DVD releases, so I'm happy enough. I couldn't tell you if there's DNR, edge enhancement, or crushed blacks. I just watched the film and enjoyed it.
Chronicle (2012)
Three high school friends discover a glowing object buried in a cave underground. Having been exposed to it, over the next few days they start developing super powers. At first it all seems like a big game, but one of the three is a bit unstable and soon the powers corrupt him and his anger and hatred at the world around him starts manifesting itself in some serious mayhem.
This was a pleasant surprise. I usually dislike shaky cam type films, but this one seemed to get the right balance and I was quickly drawn into the story. It's a nice twist on the normal Superhero stories and shows the dark side of that. Really liked this, highly recommended.
RoboCop 2 (1990)
Back into the Blu box for this offering and it's all good fun. Peter Weller returns as our friendly neighbourhood RoboCop and he's on the trail of Cain (Tom Noonan), a criminal mastermind who is flooding the streets with a drug called Nuke. When he's caught, barely alive, he's transformed into a RoboCop too and all hell breaks loose.
It's great fun and, for me, is slightly better than the original. The humour is more overt and the action is frequent. The Blu looks stunning too.
RoboCop 3 (1992)
This time Robert Burke steps into the role of RoboCop. OCP are driving people out of their homes so that the land can be redeveloped for profit. The residents are not happy and have banded together to create a people's army. RoboCop soon joins their ranks when he realises what's going on. It's mostly all noise and bluster and a pretty poor sequel all round. Not bad, but not great. This was my first viewing - and probably my last. Looks good on Blu though.
The Innkeepers (2011)
Two youngsters are left on desk duties at the Pedlar Inn which is shutting down and they're holding the fort over the weekend till it closes on Monday. But the house is reputedly haunted and it's not long before there's some ghostly happenings. Sounds better than it is and the two young leads just got on my nerves and Kelly McGillis hasn't aged well. Poor casting, badly scripted, useless FX, crap music score. It's all a bit of a dead loss and ultimately boring. Not recommended.
The Grey (2011)
Liam Neeson plays Ottway, a skilled marksman - his job is to kill wolves before they attack any of the workers at the arctic refinery where he is stationed. He has leave coming up so takes a plane with some co-workers also off on leave. But the plane hits bad weather and crashes leaving only a handful of them alive. Trapped in the middle of hostile terrain and hunted by wolves, they have to rely on Ottway to get them out alive. But the wolves are hunting them and the arctic weather is closing in on them.
Overall it's not too bad and the real star of the film is the arctic itself with some beautiful vistas on display. The wolves are a bit shoddily rendered via CG, but it kept me watching to the end, so it couldn't have been all that bad.
Carnage (2011)
After an incident involving two boys whereby one hit the other with a stick, the parents of the two respective boys meet up to discuss the incident. Things quickly turn sour and prejudices rise to the surface and before long there's vomit, shouting and drunkenness. I really enjoyed this micro-piece of cinema and the actors give it their all. John C. Reilly proves he's as adept with clever material as he is with dumb comedies and Jodie Foster as his wife looks like her head will pop with the stress. Also nice to see Christoph Waltz outside of a Tarantino film and Kate Winslet is capable as his wife, but probably the least of the acting talent on display here. Surprised to see Polanski as director - I thought they'd locked him up? Maybe he directed it from his prison cell?
Overall I really enjoyed this, well worth a look.