What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Rik]

I'm about 5 minutes into Argento's Dracula, thought I'd give it a shot. Expect an update with my thoughts in a little under 2 hours

[keirarts]

Originally Posted by Beyond72

"**** you. That's my name."

"who told you you could work with men!?"

[Frankie Teardrop]

SEASON OF THE WITCH - Despite it being pilloried on its release, I found this a fairly diverting mainstream horror effort. Maybe it could've played on the ambiguity of supernature vs psychology a bit more (which was the route I thought it was going to take at first) rather than blowing it all on a special fx climax with demon, but even so, lurking behind the obvious moves and the usual bombast was an interesting line about power and religious 'authority'. Beyond this, the slightly peripheral aspects ie. the weirdly fungal plague appealed more than the 'main course', which was standard but entertaining enough.

MADE IN BRITAIN - From the great Alan Clarke. Tim Roth is Trevor, a racist skinhead whose confrontation with the state apparatus plays out against the ultra depressing backdrop of Thatcher's Britain. Despite and beyond the crazy distortion of Trevor's idiot ideology, there's something to admire about his apparent utter hatred and contempt for authority. However, his hostility is underpinned by an emotional fragility which becomes clear when at the end of the film he imposes himself on his one tentative attachment, a social worker who is about to 'abandon' him for two weeks for a holiday in Corfu. This is brilliant, searing stuff which shows us where the deep well of rage in our society springs from - not from victims like Trevor, but from the banal institutions which dominate our lives. I've seen a lot of horror films, but few of them contain scenes as eerie as the one where Trevor stares through a shopfront window at a family of plastic dummies gathered around a TV in their living room, all wearing price tags.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Rik

I'm about 5 minutes into Argento's Dracula, thought I'd give it a shot. Expect an update with my thoughts in a little under 2 hours

Didn't make it to the end because I fell asleep, not due to the film I should add. It looks like I'm snowed in today so I'll give it another go at some point

[Dave Boy]

Planet Terror (2007)

Death Proof (2007)

[Justin101]

Originally Posted by Rik

Didn't make it to the end because I fell asleep, not due to the film I should add. It looks like I'm snowed in today so I'll give it another go at some point

I'm not brave enough to try it out

On a side note - That's Entertainment have new and still sealed 'ex-rental' copies of Giallo in their 3 for £5 or £1.99 each deal, at least the Liverpool shop had 5 or 6 of them so I expect all the shops have some stock of them.

[platostotal]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

SEASON OF THE WITCH - Despite it being pilloried on its release, I found this a fairly diverting mainstream horror effort. Maybe it could've played on the ambiguity of supernature vs psychology a bit more (which was the route I thought it was going to take at first) rather than blowing it all on a special fx climax with demon, but even so, lurking behind the obvious moves and the usual bombast was an interesting line about power and religious 'authority'. Beyond this, the slightly peripheral aspects ie. the weirdly fungal plague appealed more than the 'main course', which was standard but entertaining enough.

MADE IN BRITAIN - From the great Alan Clarke. Tim Roth is Trevor, a racist skinhead whose confrontation with the state apparatus plays out against the ultra depressing backdrop of Thatcher's Britain. Despite and beyond the crazy distortion of Trevor's idiot ideology, there's something to admire about his apparent utter hatred and contempt for authority. However, his hostility is underpinned by an emotional fragility which becomes clear when at the end of the film he imposes himself on his one tentative attachment, a social worker who is about to 'abandon' him for two weeks for a holiday in Corfu. This is brilliant, searing stuff which shows us where the deep well of rage in our society springs from - not from victims like Trevor, but from the banal institutions which dominate our lives. I've seen a lot of horror films, but few of them contain scenes as eerie as the one where Trevor stares through a shopfront window at a family of plastic dummies gathered around a TV in their living room, all wearing price tags.

With you on 'Season', thought it was okay, good enough to sit and watch, Pearlman and Cage make an odd/good combo, CGI at the end is a bit meh tho

[SilverGunnar Hansen]

Saw Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters again last night, was pleasantly surprised first time but only saw it in 2D and thought it looked like it could have been alot of fun in 3D. It was! And at least it's under 90 mins. Can't understand the slating it's getting, pretty much a modern Sam Raimi film, could have been funnier but overall it's a blast, with some great practical FX (LOVE the troll). Here's my review: Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters (2013) Movie Review from Eye for Film

Also saw The Paperboy - really strange mix of noir and period drama, touches on loadsa stuff but doesn't really gel, gets really dark towards the end, worth a watch for the excellent performances (even Zac Efron and Macy Gray are great, Cusack and Nicole Kidman are particularly good) but a bewildering experience.

[Delirium]

Originally Posted by Rik

I'm about 5 minutes into Argento's Dracula, thought I'd give it a shot. Expect an update with my thoughts in a little under 2 hours

Genuine question.. as I see this a lot.. are less and less people actually watching a film, for better or worse, uninterrupted these days? I genuinely don't understand it, and see "I'm currently watching this.." posted on forums a lot these days.

It's the equivalent of people using their mobile phones in the cinema, only without the distraction to other people of course.

Have we now reached a stage of internet or social networking dependency where we have to update other people on our actions at that very exact time, rather than fully committing and involving ourselves to the activity at hand.

[Justin101]

I think it depends on the film, sometimes it's a film you've already seen and you're just passing some time - other times the film is not very good but you've already invested time in it and you want to see what happens at the end I think the quality of a lot of films available these days means that you're not 100% engrossed by them - maybe if it's that bad you're browsing imdb.com or posting on letterboxd etc you should do something else instead!