What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[JoshuaKaitlyn]

Avengers Age of Ultron (2015) Passable mainstream. But Olsen as Scarlet Witch...Noooooooooooooo!

[Justin101]

I was home unwell yesterday so I took advantage of the situation and had a movie marathon! My watch pile is huge and growing every day, unfortunately some of my choices were not really good for someone feeling down in the dumps and sick in bed

Blastfighter



I've never seen this Lamberto Bava action epic before, in fact until 88 announced it I had never even heard of it! Going from the gaudy gun-toting cover artwork the film wasn't even remotely like what I was expecting, in fact the first 45 minutes is pretty gentle fare with some human drama, ex-con cop back in his home town and trying to get on with his life but the locals don't want him to have an easy ride... It quickly escalates into Deliverance with guns! It's a fun film and helped probably by the fact that Michael Sopkiw is a DILF

Antichrist



OK, this is the first of my film mistakes - although I guess that makes it sound like I didn't enjoy the film right from the off which isn't true. I actually really liked this film up to a point... and that point was Chapter Four: The Three Beggars. I enjoyed the psychological intensity of everything up until that point, well enjoyed isn't the right word really, appreciated maybe! I think my main problem is that Charlotte Gainsburg is not all that interesting to watch unlike for example, Adjani is in Possession. I actually remember thinking that it's been a while since a film has actually made me feel uncomfortable while watching and that is quite an achievment, no-one can deny that von Trier is a master of his craft and in fact one of the last times I felt as utterly disconnected from reality and quite un-nerved was when I first watched Dancer in the Dark. All in all, a good film, very bleak and not the correct film for my frame of mind at the time but I'm not in any rush to revisit it!

Norwegian Wood



Film mistake number 2 came in the afternoon when I momentarily forgot the plot of the Haruki Murakami book that this film was based on. I just thought, 'oh that's a film about love i'm sure that'll cheer me up after Antichrist' but no, it's much more than that. It's a film about loss, about never recovering from the death of a close one, about suicide. It's set in Tokyo 1968 against the back drop of student rioting which is mirroring the main character Watanabe's inner turmoil. His best friend killed himself at 17, we don't find out why we just see indications that his life was great he was doing well in school, he was popular and he had a long time girlfriend Naoko. Watanabe goes off to university and one day he sees Naoko in park, suffice to say she's still very troubled from the loss and thus begins and emotional rollercoaster for everyone. It's a good film with a great soundtrack from Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead, the cast are really good actors but the story was so sad that I didn't quite know what to do with myself by the end of the film.

Elvira Mistress of the Dark



Let's put this out there, I love the idea of Elvira but I had never seen this film before and I wish that I had left it that way. There are some good bits in this film and I can see what they were trying to do but I think that the script was a major mis-step which unfortunately was co-written by Cassandra Peterson herself... The jokes fell flat but there were a few quotable moments which were good such as "Oh well, there's nothing wrong with G-rated movies, as long as there's lots of sex and violence."
I wonder now whether I should give the sequel a miss

[bdc]

The "sequel" to Elvira would have been much better if played straight imho,I liked the first one though.

Watched these:

[keirarts]

Robot Jox

In the future, after a global nuclear war humanity has found a more measured and reasonable way of solving issues and disputes over territory. Giant robots. So, the current champion is heading to the end of his career and is looking to be replaced by 'tubies' test tube robojoxers who are designed purely to fight in the huge robots designed for this purpose. After a tragic accident kills numerous spectators, the champ decides to quit, however after falling in love with one of the tubers he realises he must get back in the cockpit and finish the job as well as uncovering the spy who is revealing the secrets of his teams robot.

Well directed by Stuart Gordon, who seems to have framed the interesting or somewhat slight plot as an excuse to feature giant robot action, the film delivers this in spades in spite of a restrictive budget. Well detailed set design and carefully shot model work that took several years to complete, the finished work still holds up today in HD. The model work is done with amazing care and attention to detail and the robot combat is well choreographed and shot to make a film that I'm glad to say is still a thrilling experience even once the fog of nostalgia is cleared. It looks bloody stunning on Blu-ray as well.

Pacific rim.

After Jox I decided to double bill it with this to see how it holds up against state of the art CGI. The temptation to do a hatchet job subsides while watching as the effects work here is well considered and well delivered with attention to detail. while there is a certain charm to Jox's practical effects, the action here holds up thanks to the care and attention of the film-makers. It helps that Pacific rim was the film that delivered way more than the bigger Godzilla remake in terms of action and entertainment.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Noose for a Lady (1953)

An excellent, largely unknown British whodunit in the Agatha Christie / Dashiell Hammett mold. The story centres on a man who returns from abroad to find his cousin has been convicted of murdering her husband and sentenced to death. Worse still her execution is only seven days away. Dennis Price is excellent as he pokes around into the affairs of the village where his cousin lived. Everyone seems a suspect and more corpses turn up as the mystery deepens.

Noose for a Lady is a terrific little film with a final sequence reminiscent of The Thin Man film series. However the rest of the film is tense and compelling piece which grabs you in the opening five minutes and refuses to let go. It's also remarkable that it's written so well that i didn't work out who the real murderer was until the final five minutes.

Another superb release from Network. Highly recommended.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Sold!!

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by bizarre_eye@Cult Labs

Sold!!

I was really impressed. Quite often these old British films sound better than what you actually get onscreen but this was a proper gem.

[keirarts]

The redeemer




Upcoming low budget Chilean action movie. Very well choreographed action scenes and manages a solidly entertaining 90 minutes for your buck. Don't want to say a whole lot though it would be hard to spoil a film that is pretty much what it looks like but I'm suitably impressed enough that I'm going to buy it.

[bizarre_eye@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

I was really impressed. Quite often these old British films sound better than what you actually get onscreen but this was a proper gem.

My interest was piqued as soon as you mentioned 'Agatha Christie'.

[Gold6082]

Cursed

Thanks to the heads up in the Wes Craven thread,I realised the uk dvd of cursed was cut (so thanks for that) I purchased the unrated region 1 DVD which is 7 minutes longer that is a hell of a big difference. I already liked the film whilst blissfully unaware but now I REALLY love it as 2 of the cuts from the uk disc were obvious immediately. One of my favs by Wes. 9/10


My soul to Take

Oh dear the second in my Wes Double bill wasn't quite so great. In Fact it is a cringey pile of Unlike Wes to turn out such a poor turn. Awful dialogue,annoying cast & plot lost the plot... 2/10


I Saw The Devil


I didn't see the devil but I did see a crazy old git who takes time out of driving a schoolbus to rape and brutally murder half the population of Japan. He makes the mistake of killing the lover of James Bond on Steroids who soon plays him at his own game. Fantastic film 8/10


Nomads

Olivia Richards from Sunset Beach (Lesley Anne Down) Faints in this film when life gets hard too! Mind you if Pierce Brosnan grabs you and whispers something naughty in your ear then you're haunted by motorbiking Eskimos you'd want to faint too. Enjoyable but bloody bizarre film 7/10