What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by keirarts

Dillinger

Following the trend of AIP breaking major talents of 70's American cinema, John Milius gets a crack at the story of John Dillinger. The Ever excellent Warren Oates plays Dillinger himself with Ben Johnson portraying his G-man nemesis. Both Harry Dean Stanton and Geoffrey Lewis play gang members and Richard Dreyfuss is Gleefully Psychotic as Baby Face Nelson.
While I'm a big Michael Mann fan, personally I think this is a much better, grittier take on the story than Mann's Public enemies with some genuinely impressive action scenes with the bank robberies including plenty of Peckinpah-esque shoot outs. The passage of time sequences cutting together black & white images from the film with footage from 40's is a nice touch and the whole film seems washed out with brownish almost sepia coloured imagery and some great photography of the American Heartlands. The film really manages to keep to a period feel with costume soundtrack and dialogue. Overall this is well worth watching.

Have you seen the 1945 film with Lawrence Tierney as John Dillinger? If not, it's worth a blind buy as I think it's the best of the two films with that title.

[Justin101]

I've been watching Leviathan - The Making of Hellraiser & Hellraiser II, however I'm only 3.5hrs into the first disc of 4.5hrs!

Good so far, the guys who worked on the make-up and special effects are all really likable and have a lot of interesting things to say. Although I have to say i'm a little disappointed with Claire Higgins, she seems almost embarrassed to talk about it and a little reluctant to expand on her answers which are a merely 'sound-bites' where as Doug Bradley doesn't shut up ha!!

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Justin101

Although I have to say i'm a little disappointed with Claire Higgins, she seems almost embarrassed to talk about it and a little reluctant to expand on her answers which are a merely 'sound-bites' where as Doug Bradley doesn't shut up ha!!

That's exactly what I felt watching it, I lost track of how many times she says she doesn't like Horror films, but I bet she didn't complain about the paycheck for appearing!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Rik

That's exactly what I felt watching it, I lost track of how many times she says she doesn't like Horror films, but I bet she didn't complain about the paycheck for appearing!

I doubt it was that big a paycheck actually. I doubt she did a George Lucas and agreed a deal for all future releases and merchandise rights.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I doubt it was that big a paycheck actually. I doubt she did a George Lucas and agreed a deal for all future releases and merchandise rights.

I meant for appearing in the doc, she's clearly not interested in talking about the films, it's like she agreed to do it because of the money only

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Rik

I meant for appearing in the doc, she's clearly not interested in talking about the films, it's like she agreed to do it because of the money only

You get people like that on some of these docs don't you.

It's a shame that they see it as just a job from a long time ago rather than the world famous entity that Hellraiser became.

After reading her resume she's been working constantly in tv and film productions ever since and won three Olivier awards for stage work so two horror films from practically 30 years ago may not mean so much.

It'll be interesting to see if she does any comms, interviews or extras for the Doctor Who episodes she's about to appear in. She should do as actors such Liam Cunningham, John Hurt, David Warner and Dougray Scott did.

Of course her general attitude could be because she's from Bradford.

[Demoncrat]

Mixed bag this time....

Better Off Dead (1985, Savage Steve Holland). Well, it looks like I'l have to see One Crazy Summer as well then!! Ostensibly a "teen" comedy, this has a vein of blackish humor to it, which lifts it away from Ferris etc. As if they looked at the script as said to themselves, this is nonsense, so let's treat it as such. Ahem. Brilliantly spoofed in South Park as well...

Scarecrows (1988, William Wesley). We've all been there, you and your gang have just pulled off a heist, and one of your number pulls a fast one!! Always loved this curious blend of action and atmosphere. The titular fiends are still quite creepy, and it all rips along at a good pace!!

Chappie (2015, Neil Blomkamp). Awwww, it made me cry. And was more effective than Elysium.

Beyond the Black Rainbow (2010, Panos Cosmatos). Still one of the "stillest" films I've seen outside of Persona, this dystopian tale set in the 80s is just really one you have to see for yourself. Just don't expect Gravity
Ahem.

[Rik]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Of course her general attitude could be because she's from Bradford.

That'll be exactly it, I'm glad I only work there!

Even Superman hates the place!

[Demoncrat]

That Sinking Feeling (1979, Bill Forsyth)
"Davie, ye bastuurd ye!!"
Need I say more? Rougher round the edges than Gregorys Girl, this still has a charm of its own imo....An early attempt by BF of his own brand of Magical McRealism, this revolves around a group of soft hearted miscreants in the "fictitious" town of Glasgow. Recommended!!!

Blood Diner (1987, Jackie Kong)
From the gal who brought us The Being, this is a hoot and a half. La Kong's take on Blood Feast has many highlights to behold. Terrible music numbers! Cut and paste editing! The most mismatched cop team ever!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

The ABC's of Death (2012)

Anthology series where 26 directors are given one letter of the alphabet each and allowed to come up with whatever they like as a 5 minute or so vignette.

Clocking in at two hours The ABC's of Death is a mixed bag. With 26 varied shorts it was always going to be. The directors in question are from all over the world, most i'd not heard of before but a few such as Ben Wheatley, Jake West, Xavier Gens and even actress Angela Bettis should be familiar to all on here. Not every story worked, in fact quite a few of them were fairly poor. There were some standouts though such as A is for Apocalypse, D is for Dogfight, L is for Libido and X is for XXL. Some could arguably have been expanded into feature length productions the ideas were so good.

Some of the subject matter borders on the extreme and quite often the deaths are very gruesome. However some of the shorts are a little lazy and i didn't get on with any of the animated efforts at all.

On the whole i'd say the film was ok, bordering on good.