What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Linbro]

'True Grit'.
Fantastic Cohen brothers western, that had me completely involved from start to finish. As usual, not sure why it took me so long to getting around to watching it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Break (2009)

A gleefully sadistic Swedish made backwoods horror about a group of girlfriends who go camping in the Canadian mountains only to be raped, tortured and murdered by a couple of good ol' boys.

In all honesty for people like me who love their outdoor survival horror films there isn't anything new here. The genre has been churning out stuff like this since The Most Dangerous Game back in the early thirties, taking in Deliverance and Southern Comfort, before becoming ultra exploitative in the last twenty years with films such as Wrong Turn and Pig Hunt. The story was a little two paced with a pretty slow opening half hour followed by a breakneck speed final two thirds. The acting was fine if unremarkable and the two hillbilly types the typical cliches, even if one of them did appear to have a snout rather than a nose. I guess that's inbreeding for you though.

Break was refreshing in that, despite it being a fairly low budget film, plenty of effort had been made with the photography and beautiful woodland locations for the viewer to appreciate these aspects of the film rather than just the usual slaughter.

Recommended to fans of Backwoods horror.

[keirarts]

Godzilla..(Gareth Edwards)

MOSTLY great. The final fight between Godzilla and the two mutos is frankly brilliant and a real treat for fans of Gojira.

It was however a little let down by the Call of duty fetishism that seems to infect any Hollywood picture with plenty of military hardware on display. I could live with it for most of the picture but then the US enacts a frankly baffling plan that involves them ignoring at least two key fact about the mutos and seems really puzzling until you realise its all to let the Us military play a part in the end monster rumble because why let Godzilla steal the thunder of these brave patriots.....

Sorry but I PAID TO SEE GODZILLA TRASH A CITY AND FIGHT MONSTERS.

To have the epic fight play partly as background noise for the medal of honour heroism is frankly a step too far and put me off loving the film.

Still worth watching but Pacific rim was better.

[trebor8273]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Godzilla..(Gareth Edwards)

MOSTLY great. The final fight between Godzilla and the two mutos is frankly brilliant and a real treat for fans of Gojira.

It was however a little let down by the Call of duty fetishism that seems to infect any Hollywood picture with plenty of military hardware on display. I could live with it for most of the picture but then the US enacts a frankly baffling plan that involves them ignoring at least two key fact about the mutos and seems really puzzling until you realise its all to let the Us military play a part in the end monster rumble because why let Godzilla steal the thunder of these brave patriots.....

Sorry but I PAID TO SEE GODZILLA TRASH A CITY AND FIGHT MONSTERS.

To have the epic fight play partly as background noise for the medal of honour heroism is frankly a step too far and put me off loving the film.

Still worth watching but Pacific rim was better.

off to see this on tuesday. looking forward to it shame about the bloody flag waving, but thats a america, if we believe hollowood they won ww2 single handed and europe had nothing to do with it!

dogma

first viewing and i say it will be getting many more. great cast and story hilariously funny and actual has a message, don't really see how the church got upset, granted it pokes fun at some of the more stupid beliefs, but it actually very positive on a lot of other stuff. 9.5/10

well next up one of the dr who dvds i picked dup today the ice warriors

[Dave Boy]

A test pilot in 1960 travels through a time barrier to the year 2024. He finds the earth now ravaged by a plague. Only a few survivors can talk. The rest are deaf and dumb and sterile. Those that can talk, survivors from the year the plague hit in 1973 are treated as outcasts. They hatch a plan to help the pilot get back to his own time and try to stop the disaster from happening.

Rather talkie film but still enough to hold your attention for the end reel when the mutants are freed to help with the escape of the pilot. The scenes when the pilot lands at his air base in the future are good and quite eerie.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

War and Peace (1956)

This 3hr 28 minute film of Leon Tolstoy's classic novel has a fine cast including Henry Fonda, Audrey Hepburn, Mel Ferrer and Herbert Lom playing a very good Napoleon. As with all these Hollywood epics, this Italian co-production looks fantastic with excellent sets and costumes.

The first hour and a half is far too talky, even to the point of boredom. According to Henry Fonda, director King Vidor took the script away with him each evening and rewrote the dialogue for the next days shooting, thus "all the genius of Tolstoy went out the window."

However the following two hours are a distinct improvement, centering on political intrigue and conflict rather than romance, giving us a cast of thousands in some well staged battle scenes. The final forty minutes depicting the French retreat from Moscow borders on harrowing and is compulsive viewing.

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

I haven't seen that version of War and Peace but, because I thought the book was a masterpiece, I should really add it to my 'watchlist'.

[Linbro]

'Videodrome' - another one of my all time favourites. First time viewing on BD, via the Koch Media 3 disc mediabook, and it looks superb. Maybe the same transfer as the Criterion? Still have a disc of extras to watch, will try and get to them next. The film BD offers the theatrical version, or directors cut - which is fully uncut, of course.
The effects have stood the test of time, and the film itself still packs a punch.

[Demoncrat]

Tourist Trap (1979, David Schmoeller). Mate turned up with the Blu (yes, I told him......). Hadn't seen this, and dug the rather haphazard style of it. Dvd for me though methinks!!


Must get me that Mad Bomber as well......

[troggi]

My little girl and I went to see "Godzilla" today, my son doesn't want to see it because "the 'real' Godzilla is a man in a suit!" We approached the cinema with a little trepidation, would it, indeed, could it live up to our expectations or would it just be another bag of 'All American' tripe? The consensus of opinion was "Yeehah!" to which The Daughter of Darkness added "I'm glad that they decided to make Godzilla a superhero again!"

All I can add is "AMEN to that!" a resounding 22/10 (would've been 25/10 but too much schmaltz in the middle section).