What Films Have You Seen Recently?

[nicholasrope]

Originally Posted by MrBarlow

Hobo With A Shotgun. 2011.

Rutger Hauer plays the hobo who arrives in a small town with dreams of buying a lawnmower and starting up a business only to cross paths with a gangster, his two sadistic sons and corrupt police and decides to buy a shotgun and go on a vigilante hunt. Hauer had a great career in films and does make you wonder why he did this, was it done out of pure fun and something different. Certainly a throwback to he 80s with the cameras that used vhs tapes, a good opening score taken from Mark of The Devil and Cannibal Holocaust, I'm sure the end song was from the cartoon The Raccoons. It has plenty gore, bloodsplatter and our hero taking a time out to give a speech to a few new born babies.

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Like the film but I still find the fact that the villains were able to set fire to a busload of Children without no one calling outside law enforcement help quite unrealistic. I'm guessing that they are so scared of The Drakes.

And whilst I can't remember the names, the supernatural characters that showed up at the end, didn't really fit and took me out of it.

[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Midnight Cowboy (1969)

Jon Voight stars as a Texan who has a gift with the ladies, thinking he'll find a rich woman to live with he sets off to New York as a hustler. He soon comes across the snaky Ratzo Rizzo (Dustin Hoffman) a fellow down n' out who rips him off but they soon become friends.

As the end credits rolled i was again left in an unusual frame of mind, similar to when watching another absolute favourite in Easy Rider, a film from that very same year. I don't know if it was the similarities in characters being basically two outcasts looking out for one another in a hostile world or maybe the music - Harry Nilsson's Everybody's Talkin' could have been lifted direct from Easy Rider or just the general feel that director John Schlesinger gives the film which filled me with laughs, joy, despair and heartbreak: basically everything a film can do.

Midnight Cowboy isn't a film that i'd recommend to total strangers unlike say Jaws or Raiders of the Lost Ark because it's seemingly a detached look at the seedy underbelly of urban life in the cess pits of late sixties New York but digging just beneath the surface there's so much more to it than that. Yet if i was to sum it up in a sentence i'd probably say it's a heartwarming story of friendship set in an ultimately depressingly f*cked up world

I didn't put this on until after 1:00 am last night / this morning, i dunno, it feels like the right time to absorb this masterpiece in a dark world with the early morning skies of redemption breaking through as it finishes.

I also watched the two thirty-Firth Anniversary Documentaries on the Criterion Blu-ray - After Midnight: Reflecting On a Classic 35 Years Later and Controversy and Acclaim which are both recommended. There's an enormous amount of supplemental material on the disc but they were my two of choice to finish of a night that began with a weird Mexican brain sucking monster.

[SymbioticFunction]

Originally Posted by Demdike@Cult Labs

Possession (1981)

I know how highly rated this is but i simply do not like it. I admit Isabelle Adjani and Sam Neill, Adjani in particular, give extremely strong performances but her constant histrionics and screaming from the off really annoy the shit out of me to the point of distraction.

Possession is barely a horror film unless you take kitchen sink grittiness as horror which i suppose it is as domestic violence and power struggles are as close to home as horror gets but it's not what i call entertainment. It's as though the creature Adjani hides in the disused apartment was thrown in to add a bit of Lovcraft weird to proceedings as it's possible it's not even real and simply a figment of Adjani's psychosis.

I do like the Cold War Berlin setting. That's certainly original for the horror genre. I'm sure it's a film that has many complex themes and is deemed so worthy by those who enjoy this sort of endurance test but i lose interest due to the constant screaming and shouting.

The Second Sight dvd wasn't great image wise so following a second viewing of it last night i've traded it in at Cex for a tenner.

I tried watching this recently, didn't like it at all. I found it to be an irritating art house film. When Adjani was talking directly to the camera was where I gave up on it (couldn't stand it any longer).

[MrBarlow]

Wanted: Dead Or Alive. 1987.

Rutger Hauer plays the bounty Hunter Nick Randall hired to find terrorist Gene Simmons who enjoys blowing up buildings and has to play cat and mouse with Simmons and the other agents on the trail.

Director Gary Sherman manages to keep this on a great steady pace, right from the start with Hauer heading to a bar and finding his is target and taking a no nonsense approach in a convienant store. Simmons who doesn't take much screen time certainly gives it his all with the game play and leaving his mark and proving he is the bomber and taking credit before anyone else does. I always saw this film as a great action but after 20 years of not seeing it, this feels like it's more of a thriller type of movie, either way it's still one of Rutger's best films.


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[Frankie Teardrop]

THE VOICES – Never a great idea to follow the advice of pets, especially when they include a really dark cat. The guy with the pet problem is Deadpool, who is more likeable here than the voices in his head. True to form, the ‘horror movie depiction of madness’ experience leaves him with a scummy flat littered with body parts, making ‘The Voices’ something like a light-hearted ‘Maniac’, only twice as bleak. Sharp, cute and nasty in all the right places. From Marjane Satrapi, director of ‘Persopolis’, with good turns by Reynolds, Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick.

THE GAME OF DEATH – Canadian indie featuring some irritating young people who like to f*ck, take drugs and play board games. This one they’re not so keen on maybe as participation is mandatory and involves slaying others to stay alive. Very good, especially if you’re into manatees; the frequent instances of ‘edgy style’ include TV David Attenborough-style subaquatic excursions, weird forays into blocky, eighties style animation and long, arty shots of blood spreading through swimming pool waters. All of that’s disposable or not depending on taste, but you can’t say it doesn’t push the gore and nastiness, with exploding heads and a philosophy lesson involving mass mayhem in a palliative care facility! Yikes.

LAST SHIFT – From the director of the really quite nasty ‘Dread’ (and some less nasty other stuff). A rookie cop does a solo gig on the last night of a soon-to-shut police precinct; sinister forces ensure that the loose toilet habits of a passing tramp are the least of her worries. I saw it once, ages ago, but couldn’t remember much; think I fell asleep. No aspersions cast, it’s a good, solid B pic with some nice atmosphere and imagery. It does stretch credulity in places (which would never be problem for me with something much trashier, but ‘Last Shift’ does rely on the niceties of characterisation, narrative, psychology and all that cinematic whatnot) and its cultic backstory is slightly ho-hum, but it’s nothing if not a decent watch. I don’t really get why he remade it ten years later though.

[MrBarlow]

The Quatermass Xperiment. 1955.

Not many sci-fi horrors from this era can have a shock factor to them but us Brits knew how to create shock, terror and plenty of suspense and tension that relied on effects, acting and great direction. Right at the start it's laughable with a couple outside running to safety then part of the roof of the house collapses...should have stayed where they were.

Brian Donlevy is wonderful as Quatermass, a scientist with the bullying manner of a army drill instructor that may have R. Lee Emerey pleased and a fierce, pragmatic streak. Richard Wordsworth who brings abominable terror and helplessness to his character carrying an alien infestation from outer space from destroying Earth, that his onscreen appearance when changing can still give you chills.

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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE VOICES – Never a great idea to follow the advice of pets, especially when they include a really dark cat. The guy with the pet problem is Deadpool, who is more likeable here than the voices in his head. True to form, the ‘horror movie depiction of madness’ experience leaves him with a scummy flat littered with body parts, making ‘The Voices’ something like a light-hearted ‘Maniac’, only twice as bleak. Sharp, cute and nasty in all the right places. From Marjane Satrapi, director of ‘Persopolis’, with good turns by Reynolds, Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick.

LAST SHIFT – From the director of the really quite nasty ‘Dread’ (and some less nasty other stuff). A rookie cop does a solo gig on the last night of a soon-to-shut police precinct; sinister forces ensure that the loose toilet habits of a passing tramp are the least of her worries. I saw it once, ages ago, but couldn’t remember much; think I fell asleep. No aspersions cast, it’s a good, solid B pic with some nice atmosphere and imagery. It does stretch credulity in places (which would never be problem for me with something much trashier, but ‘Last Shift’ does rely on the niceties of characterisation, narrative, psychology and all that cinematic whatnot) and its cultic backstory is slightly ho-hum, but it’s nothing if not a decent watch. I don’t really get why he remade it ten years later though.

The Voices sounds good.

Dread sounds familiar. I don't know if i have it or not. Perhaps i once owned it. Perhaps it's simply been in my wishlist for too long. Puzzles, puzzles.

[J Harker]

Originally Posted by Frankie Teardrop

THE VOICES – Never a great idea to follow the advice of pets, especially when they include a really dark cat. The guy with the pet problem is Deadpool, who is more likeable here than the voices in his head. True to form, the ‘horror movie depiction of madness’ experience leaves him with a scummy flat littered with body parts, making ‘The Voices’ something like a light-hearted ‘Maniac’, only twice as bleak. Sharp, cute and nasty in all the right places. From Marjane Satrapi, director of ‘Persopolis’, with good turns by Reynolds, Gemma Arterton and Anna Kendrick.

I enjoyed The Voices. It really caught me off guard.



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[Demdike@Cult Labs]

Benedetta (2021)

In 17th century Tuscany a young girl is sent to a convent when she claims to have visions of Jesus. As she grows up Benedetta (Virginie Efira) rises to the rank of Abbess, much to the annoyance of current Abbess Charlotte Rampling. Meanwhile Benedetta is succumbing to even more vivid and horrific visions whilst seemingly reaching the point of stigmata and often speaking in what sound to be demonic tongues. All the while she is having a carnal affair with fellow nun Bartolomea (Daphné Patakia) as rumours spread of plague in the town and heresy in the convent.

Benedetta, directed by Paul Verhoeven, blends religion, sex and horror into it's central themes. It's certainly controversial and provocative, genuinely erotic in places and equally nasty in others. Although Christian groups were up in arms regarding the film. Benedetta's belief and love and devotion for the Lord are never in doubt.

I found the last forty minutes to be genuinely gripping viewing in what amounts to a witch trial even though it's on religious grounds, with events unfolding straight out of seventies horror cinema.

Verhoeven's direction and the excellent performances make this powerful and compelling viewing throughout and i really enjoyed it.

The Blu-ray released by Mubi looks and sounds terrific with outdoor scenes that are extremely vibrant. The disc comes with six lovely artcards and is housed in a quality slip case.

[SymbioticFunction]

Still processing the new Indiana Jones film, not sure what to make of it. After 55 minutes, it becomes much more cartoony than I would have liked. Will very probably still buy it. I've got a feeling that it will just be a standard blu-ray purchase rather than 4K UHD (the only reason I own Crystal Skull in 4K is because I bought the four disc 4K UHD set to obtain the classic trilogy). It is better than Crystal Skull (I think). btw The distance shot of running on the train, near the start looked really shonky. Not sure how that passed approval.